Columbia  ©niDerjsfttp 
mtljeCitpofllfttjgork 


THE  LIBRARIES 


I -SO' 
THE  HISTORY 


OF 


MODERN  EUROPE. 


WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 


THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 


ROMAN  EMPIRE: 


AND 


A   VIEW   OF  THE   PROGRESS   OF  SOCIETY,    FROM  THE  RISE 

OF   THE   MODERN   KINGDOMS   TO   THE   PEACE 

OF   PARIS,    IN    1763. 


IN   A   SERIES   OF   LETTERS, 

BY  WILLIAM  RUSSELL,  L.  L.  D. 


SECOND  AMERICAN  EDITION,  CAREFULLY  CORRECTED. 


Vol.  l 


PHILADELPHIA: 

SEfNTED  FOR  WILLIAM  YOUNG  BIRCH   AND   ABRAHAM   SMALL, 
BY  H.  MAXWELL,    COLUMBIA-HOUSI. 

1802. 


a  11 0 


vi 


\ 


TO  HIS  GRACE 

FRANCIS,  DUKE  OF  BEDFORD, 

THIS 

IMPROVED  EDITION 

OF   THE 

HISTORT  OF  MODERN  EUROPE^ 

IS 

RESPECTrULLY  INSCRIBED, 

BY  HIS   grace's  most   HUMBLE, 

*"and  most  obedient  servant, 
WILLIAM  RUSSELL, 


60175 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


A  PERSUASION  of  the  Utility  of  a 
concise  History  of  Modern  Europe  induced 
the  Author  to  undertake  this  Work:  and  he 
has  had  the  Satisfaction  to  find  his  Opinion 
justified  by  that  of  the  Pubhc.  The  Episto- 
lary Form  was  chosen,  as  best  calculated  in 
tracing  the  Concatenation  of  Events,  for  unit- 
ing the  Accuracy  of  the  Chronologer  with  the 
Entertainment  of  the  Memorialist.  And  the 
Character  of  a  Nobleman  and  a  Father  was 
assumed,  in  order  to  give  more  weight  to  the 

Moral  and  Political  Maxims,  and  to  entitle  the 
Avuhor  to  offer,  without  seeming  to  dictate  to 
the  World,  such  Reflections  on  Life  and  Man- 
ners as  are  supposed  more  immediately  to  be- 
long to  the  higher  Orders  in  Society. 

To  this  Edition,  is  added  a  Chronological 
Xable  of  Contents, 


CHRONOLOGICAL 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

OF  THE 

FIRST  VOLUME. 

■  '  OF 

THE  HISTORY  OF  MODERN  EUROPE. 
PART  L 

rSOM  THE  RISE  OF  THE  MODERN  KINGDOMS,    TO  THE 
PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA,  IN   1648, 


LETTER  I. 


Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire^  and  Settlement  of  the 
Barbarians, 

Page. 

A.  D.      Y  jjj.  Subject  proposed  -  -  -  1 

View  of  the  state  of  Ancient  Europe  -  -2 

The  Northern  nations  never  wholly  conquered  by  the  Ro- 
mans _  _  .  .  ibid. 
476  They  break  from  their  forests  and  fastnesses,  and  finally 
subvert  the  Roman  Empire              -                -  3 
Moral  and  political  causes  of  that  great  event                ibid. 
To  be  ascribed   more  immediately  to  the   too  great  ex- 
tent of  the  Roman  dominion,  and  to  the  debasing  influ- 
ence of  its  despotic  government             -             -  4 
Causes  of  the  ruin  of  the  Roman  republic             -  5 
Of  the  decline  of  the  Imperial  po\^er             -           -  6 
The  treasons  of  the  soldiery,  and  espicially  of  the  Pretorian 
bands             _              _             -              -              -  7 
The  dissolute  lives  of  the  emperors,  and  the  removal  of  the 
imperial  seat  to  Constantinople             -          -         ibid. 
The  disputes  between  the  Christians  and  Pagans,  and  be- 
tween the  different  Christian  sects          -    .          -  8 
The  superiority  of  the  Barbarians  in  virtue  and  in  valour  10 

The 


CONTENTS. 
4.  r>.  Page 

The  despicable  policy  of  the  Romans  in  purchasing  their 
forbearance,  and  taking  large  bodies  of  them  into  pay  1 1 

The  Visigoths  plant  themselves  in  Spain;  the  Franks  in 
Gaul ;  the  Saxons  in  the  Roman  provinces  of  South 
Britain;  the  Huns  in  Panonia;  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy 
and  the  adjacent  provinces,  by  the  beginning  of  the 
sixth  century  -  _  .         .  -         ibid. 

A  total  change  takes  place  in  the  state  of  Europe       ibid. 

That  change  not  to  be  lamented  -  -  ibid. 

The  contempt  of  the  Barbarians  for  the  Roman  improve- 
ments, and  its  cause  _  .  -  ibid. 

LETTER  II. 

System  of  Policy  and  Le^-islation  established  by  the  Barbarians 
on  their  Settlement  in  the  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  primitive  government  of  the  barbarous  invaders,  like 
that  of  the  ancient  Germans,  a  kmd  of  military  demo- 
cracy, under  a  general  or  chieftain         -  -  14 

They  considered  their  conquests  as  common  property,  in 
which  all  had  a  right  to  a  share  -  -  15 

After  settling  in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire, 
they  established  a  new  species  of  government,  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Feudal  System  -  ibid. 

The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  that  government    17 

The  bond  of  political  union  feeble,  and  the  sources  of  dis- 
sension many  -  -  -  -  18 

A  feudal  kingdom  commonly  torn  by  domestic  broils,  and 
little  capable  of  any  foreign  enterprise         -  ibid. 

The  judicial  proceedings  of  the  Barbarians  long  very  ab- 
surd -----  ibid. 

Resentment  almost  the  sole  motive  for  prosecuting  crimes, 
and  the  gratification  of  that  passion  the  chief  rule  in 
punishing  them  -  -  -         -  ibid. 

The  feudal  system,  with  aH  its  imperfections,  yet  less 
degrading  to  humanity  than  the  uniform  pressure  of 
Roman  despotism         _         _         -         -  -  19 

LETTER  in. 

Rise  of  the  French  Monarchy,  and  History  of  France  under  the 

Kings  of  the  First  Race. 

Introductory  reflections  on  Historical  Composition      ibid. 

Modern   history  of  little  importance   before  the  time  of 

Charlemagne  -.  -  -  -  20 

The  French  monarchy  first  claims  our  attention  ibid. 

486  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks,  son  of  Childeric,  and  grandson 

of  Merovius  (head  of  the  Salian  tribe)  gains  a  victory 

over  Syagrius,  a  Roman  usurper  in  that  province,  and 

founds  the  kingdom  of  France  -  -  ibid* 

He 


CONTENTS. 

A.  D.  Page 

496  He  defeats  the  Allemani  at  Tolbiac,  and  is  baptised,  with 
almost  the  whole  French  nation  -         -  -        21 

507  Vanquishes  Alaric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and  adds  Aqui- 

taine  to  the  kingdom  of  France  -  -  22 

Disfigures  the  latter  part  of  his   reign   by  cruelties  and 

perfidies  t«ward  the  princes  of  his  blood  -  ibid. 

nil   Dies,  after  attempting  to  atone  for  his  crimes,  by  building 

and  endowing  churches  and  monasteries  -         ibid. 

The  grandeur  of  the  French  Monarchy  much  impaired  by 

being  divided  among  his  four  sons  ;  Thierri,  Childebert, 

Clodomir,  and  Clotaire  .  .  .  ibid. 

5G2   A  like  division  takes  place  on  the  death  of  Clotaire,  tlie 

sole  successor  of  his  brother  and  nephews  ibid. 

Two  rival  queens  Brunechilda  wife  to  Sigebert,  king  of 

Austrasia,  and  Fredcgonda,  wife  to  Chilperic,  king  of 

Soissons,  sacrifice  every  thing  to  their  bloody  ambition  23 

613  Clotaire  II.  son  of  Chilperic  and  Fredcgonda,  being  left 
sole  monarch  of  France,  re-establishes  tranquillity,  and 
gains  the  hearts  of  his  subjects  -  -  ibid. 

632  Dagobert,  the  son  and  successor  of  Clotaire,  (by  his  vices, 
and  his  imprudent  policy,  in  committing  al)  real  power 
to  the  Mayors  of  the  place),  greatly  weakens  the  royal 
authority  _  _  .  _  ibid. 

644  His  two  sons,  Sigebert  II.  and  Clovis  II.  his  feeble  suc- 
cessors, only  the  founders  of  new  convents  ibid. 
Several  succeeding  kings,  aptly  denominated  sluggards, 
equally  insignificant              -              -                 -  24 

690  Pepin  Heristel,  duke  of  Austrasia,  usurps  the  administra- 
tion, under  the  name  of  IMayor,  and  governs  France 
equitably  twenty-eight  years  -  -  ibid. 

714  After  his  death,  Charles  Maitel,  his  natural  son,  assumes 
the  government  of  the  kingdom  -  -       ibid. 

751  And  Pepin,  the  son  of  Charles,  usurps  the  Sovereignty; 
excluding  forever  the  descendants  of  Clovis,  or  the  Me- 
rovingian race,  from  the  throne  of  France  ibid. 

LETTER  IV. 

Spain,  under   the   Dominion  of  the    Visigoths,  and  under  the 
Moors,  till  the  Reign  of  Abdurrahman. 

467  The  Visigoths  found  their  monarchy  in  this  Roman  pi-o- 

vince  -  -  -  -  -  25 

The  clergy  early  possessed  of  great  power  in  Spain,  which 

becomes  a  theatre  of  revolutions  and  crimes  ibid. 

585  Leovegild,  an  Arian,  puts  to  death  his  son  Hermenegild, 

because  he  had  embi'aced  the  Catholic  faith  26 

612  Sisebuc  dispossesses  the  Greek  emperors  of  that  territory 

they  had  eontinued  to  hold  on  the  coasts  of  the  Medi- 

v©L.  I.  B  terranean, 


CONTENTS. 

A.  D.  Page 

terranean,  and  obliges  all  the  Jews  in  his  own  dominions, 
on  pain  of  death,  to  receive  baptism  -  ibid. 

682  Wamba,  who  had  defeated  the  Saracens,  the  countrymen 
and  followers  of  Mahomet,  is  excluded  the  throne,  be- 
cause he  had  been  clothed  in  the  habit  of  a  penitent,  by 
a  ghostly  trick,  whilst  labouring  under  the  influence  of 
poison  -  -  -  -  -  26 

712  The  Saracens  of  Mauritania,  under  the  name  of  Moors, 
make  themselves  masters  of  Spain,  and  put  an  end  to 
the  empire  of  the  Visigoths         -         -  -  27 

7 1 7  Pelagius,  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal,  retires  into  the  moun- 
tains of  Asturias,  and  there  founds  a  little  Christian  king- 
dom -  -  -  -  -  38 

732  The  Moors  defeated  by  Charles  Martel,  in  attempting  to 

penetrate  into  France  -  .  -  ibid. 

Spain  at  first  very  miserable  under  its  Moorish  governors, 

who  were  dependent  on  the  viceroy  of  Africa  ibid. 

756  But  afterward  happy  and  flourishing  under  the  dominion 
of  Abdurrahman,  who  founds  at  Cordova  a  Mahometan 
kingdom  independent  of  the  Califs,  or  successors  of  the 
Prophet  and  their  African  viceroy         -  -  29 

LETTER  V. 

lialjUy   under  the  Dominion  of  the  Ostrogoths,  and  under  the 
Lombards  till  the  Reign  of  Luitprand. 

493  Theodoric,  the  first  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  and  several  of  his 
successors,  princes  of  much  prudence  and  humanity  30 
554  The  Ostrogoths  subdued,  and  Italy  recovered,  by  the  gene- 
rals of  Justinian,  emperor  of  Constantinople  ibid. 
568  Great  part  of  Italy  seized  by  Alboinus,  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards            -             -             -                 -            -  31 
He  establishes  the  feudal  policy  in  his  dominions         ibid. 
586  Autharis,  one  of  his  successors,  perfects  that  form  of  go- 
vernment            -                 -                 -             -               32 
And  embraces  Christianity                 -                 -            ibid. 
643  Rothai-is  gives  written  laws  to  the  I>ombards                 ibid. 
668  Grimoald  reforms  the  laws  of  Rotharis             -             ibid. 
Luitprand  forms  the  design  of  making  himself  master  of 
Italy              -                   .                  -                  -  33 
726  This  project  favoured  by  the  edict  of  Leo  Isauricus,  em- 
peror  of  Constantinople,   prohibiting    the    worship   of 
images                 -                  -                 -             -  34 
1*27  The  Italians  have  recourse  to  arms  in  support  of  the  wor- 
ship of  images                 -             -                 -             -  35 
728  Luitprand,   taking  advantage  of  this  tumult,  lays  siege  to 
Ravenna,  the  seat  of  the  Exarch  or  imperial  governor, 
and  carries  it  by  storm             -                 -                ibid. 

LETTER 


CONTENTS. 
LETTER  VI. 

Rise  of  the  Pope's  Temporal  Power,  ivith  some  account  nf  th: 
Affairs  of  Italy,  the  Empire  of  Constantinople,  and  the  King- 
dom of  France,  from  the  time  of  Charles  Martel  to  that  of 
Charlemagne. 
A.  D.  Page 

The  grand  aim  of  the  papal  policy,  to  free  the  city  of  Rome, 
the  seat  of  the  apostolic  court,  from  the  dominion  of  the 
Greek  emperors,  without  subjecting  it  to  the  Lombard 
kings  -  -  -  -  36 

728  Gregory  II.  more  afraid  of  Luitprand  than  of  the  emperor 

Leo,  retakes  Ravenna,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Vene- 
tians -  -  -  -  36 

729  The  emperor,  notwitlistanding  this  service  persists  in  his 

design  of  abolishing  the  worship  of  images  in  his  Italian 
dominions  -  -  -  -  37 

73 1  Gregory  applies  for  protection  to  Charles  Martel  who  then 
governed  France,  and  Charles  becomes  the  guardian  of 
the  church  ...  -211 

74: 1  Constantine  Copronymus  not  only  renews  his  father's  edict 
against  the  worship  of  images,  but  prohibits  the  invo- 
cation of  saints  -  -  -  40 
This  new  edict  confirms  the  idolatrous  citizens  of  Rome 
in  a  resolution  they  had  taken,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Pope,  of  separating  themselves  entirely  from  the  Greek 
empire  -  -  -  -  41 
They  accordingly  I'cvolt,  and  drive  out  of  their  city  such 
of  the  Imperial  officers  as  had  hitherto  been  suffered  to 
continue  there               .                 .                  .               ibid. 

..75  1  Pope  Zachary  encourages  Pepin,  son  of  Charles  Martel,  to 
dethrone  Childeric  III.  and  assume  the  title  of  king  of 
France  -  .  .  _  ibid. 

754  Pepin,  in  gratitude  to  his  spiritual  benefactor,  marches  into 
Italy,  and  obliges  Astulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  to 
desist  tram  an  attempt  upon  Rome  -  42 

.755  He  takes  the  same  journey  a  second  time  -  ibid. 

756  More  effectually  humbles  Astulphus,  and  founds  the  tem- 
poral power  of  the  popes,  by  bestowing  on  the  see  of 
Rome  a  considerable  territory  in  Italy,  ravished  from 
the  Lombards  -  -  -  43 

,786  He  dies,  after  dividing  his  dominions  between  his  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Carloman  .  ^  ^  4.4, 

LETTER  VIL 

Britain,  from  the  time  it  was  Relinquished  by  the  Romans,  io 
the  End  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy. 
.44s  The  Romans  finally  evacuate  Britain  -  ibid. 

The  degenerate  inhabitants  of  South  Britain,  after  the 

Roman 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

Roman  legions  are  withdrawn,  unable  to  defend  them- 
selves against  the  Scots  and  Picls  -  ibid. 

449  They  apply  to  the  Romans,  but  without  effect,  and  ulti- 

mately to  the  Saxons  for  protection  -  45 

450  The  Saxons  and  An'^Ies,  or  Anglo-Saxons,  come  to  their 

assistance,  and  repel  t!ie  Scots  and  Picts  -  47 

584  But  afterward  enter  into  a  league  with  those  barbarous 
invaders,  and  make  themselves  masters  of  all  the  low 
country  of  South  Britain  _  _  _  49 

827  The  seven  kin%*doms  of  tlie  Heptarchy,  formed  in  the 
coarse  of  the  Saxon  conquests,  united  under  Egbert  king 
of  Wessex  -  -  -  5 1 

The  Anglo-Saxons  converted  to  Christianity  before  this 
period  _  .  .  .  ibid. 

But  having  received  that  doctrine  through  the  polluted  chan- 
nels of  the  church  of  Rome,  it  had  little  effect  in  either 
softening  their  minds  or  purifying  their  morals  52 

LETTER  VIII. 

Government  and  Laivs  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 

As  the  Saxons  rather  extirpated  than  subdued  the  natives, 
they  had  no  occasion  to  burden  themselves  with  feudal 
services  -  -  -  -  53 

They  transplanted  into  Britain  their  civil  and  military  in- 
stitutions -  -  -  -  ibid. 

Their  king  was  only  the  first  citizen  of  the  community, 
and  his  authority,  which  was  very  limited,  depended 
chiefly  on  his  personal  qualities  -  ibid. 

They  had,  at  all  times,  a  national  council,  a  Wittenage- 
mot,  or  assembly  of  {he  wise  men,  whose  consent  was 
necessary  to  the  enacting  of  laws,  and  to  give  sanction 
to  the  measures  of  public  administration  -  54 

The  members  of  this  assembly  the  principal  landholders  ib. 

The  Saxons,  like  all  the  German  nations,  divided  into  three 
orders  of  men;  the  noble,  the  free,  and  the  servile  ibid. 

The  Si:iremotes,  where  all  the  freeholders  assembled  twice  a 
year,  well  calculated  for  the  support  of  general  liberty  55 

The  criminal  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  exceedingly  mildib. 

Their  judicial  proofs  very  singular  -         -  56 

The  absvu'dities  of  the  ordeal  -  -  ibid. 

Their  manners  always  rude,  and  their  knowledge  of  the 
arts  imperfect  -  -  -  ibid, 

LETTER  IX. 

Reign  of  Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the  Great,  King  of  France, 
and  Emperor  of  the  fVest. 
771   Charles  sole  sovereign  of  France,  in  consequence  of  the 
death  of  his  brother  Carloman  -  -  57 

He 


A.  D. 


CONTENTS. 

Page 
772'  He  concludes  a  treaty  with  the  Saxons,  wham  he  had  van- 
quished     -       -       -       '     •"    r  r^ 

773  And   marches  into  Italy  against  Desiderius,  kmg  of  the 

Lombards  -  -  -  -  ibid. 

Defeats  Desiderius,  and  takes  Verona  -  60 

774  Reduces  Pavia,  and  puts  an  end  to  the  kingdom  of  the 

Lombards  -  -  -  "  '[^^"* 

775  Havine-  settled  the  government  of  Italy,  he  marches  against 

the  Saxons  -  -  "  ""* 

776  Defeats  them  in   several  engagements,  and  treats  them 

with  great  severity  _  _  -  64^ 

778   Makes  an  expedition  into  Spain,  and  takes  Pampeluna  and 
Saragossa  -  -  -  "  ibid. 

Become  master   of  France,  Italy  and  Germany,  he  pays 
great  attention  to  the  arts  of  peace  -  65 

<i|j|^ccount  of  his  private  life  -  -  66 

He  encourages  learning  _  -  67 

Is  a  friend  to  the  church  _  -  63 

794  Assists  at  the  council  of  Frankfort  -  "         ^^ 

Goes  into  Italy  to  do  justice  to  Pope  Leo  III.         -         70 
800  And  is  invested  with  the  imperial  ensigns  by  that  pontiff  71 
Universally  acknowledged  emperor  of  the  West,  immedi- 
ately after  his  coronation  at  Rome  -  "^^ 
S02   Receives  an  embassy  from  Nicephorus,  emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople, complimenting  him  with  the  title  of  Au- 
gustus             -----              ibid. 
And  from  the  famous  caliph,  Ilarun-al-Raschid,  with  the 
present  of  a  striking  clock              -                -           _   ibid. 
Arts  and  learning  flourish  in  Asia,  under  Al-Raschid  and 
his  successors             _             _             -              -  75 
808  Charlemagne  delivered  from  a  formidable  invasion  of  tiie 
Normans  by  the  death  of  their  king,  Godfrey  74 
8  13  He  associates  his  son  Lewis  with  him  in  the  empire     ibid. 
S14  Dies  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  his  seventy-lirst  year           _   75 
The  extent  of  his  dominions  1                -             -             ibid. 

LETTER  X. 

Empire  of  Charlemagne  a?id  the  Church^from  ihe  Accession  of 
his  Son,  Lewis  the  Debonnaire,  to  the  Death  of  Charles  thz 
Bald. 

814  Lewis  renders  himself  odious  to  the  clergy  by  attcmptin;;- 
to  reform  certain  abuses  -  -  -  7'5 

817  Associates  his  eldest  son  Lothario  with  him   in  the   cra- 


ibid 


pire  -  -  -  - 

818  Suppresses  a  rebellion  in  Italy,  headed  by  his  ncplicw  Ber- 

trand,  whom  he  punishes  with  the  loss  of  his  eyes  ibid. 

Is  seized  with  remorse,  in  consequence  of  this  severity,  ami 

enjoined  public  penance  at  his  own  desire  -  7  7 

His 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

829  His  three  sons  by  the  first  bed,  among  whom  he  had  di- 

vided his  dominions,  join  in  a  rebellion  against  him, 
because  he  sought  from  them  some  provision  for  his  son 
Charles,  by  a  second  Avifc  -  -  -  78 

830  Abandoned  by  his  army,  he  is  made  prisoTjer  ibid. 
Released  by  the  nobility            ...             ibid. 

833  Again  abandoned  by  his  army,  he  is  deposed  and  clothed  in 

the  habit  of  a  penitent  -  -  79 

834  Obtains  absolution,  and  is  restored  to  his  dignity  81 

840  Dies  near  Mentz,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age  82 
Lothario  succeeds  to  the  Empire  -  -  ibid. 

841  Attempts  to  seize  the  possessions  of  his  brothers  83 

842  Is  defeated  and  obliged  to  receive  conditions  ibid. 
847  Subscribes  the  constitutions  of  Mersen  -  84 
855  Dies  in  the  habit  of  a  monk             -                 -             ibid. 

Lewis  IL  his  eldest  son,  succeeds  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy 
and  the  imperial  dignity  -  -  ibid. 

And  Ijis  two  younger  sons,  among  whom  he  had  divided 
the  rest  of  his  dominions,  succeed  to  their  several  allot- 
ments -  -  -  -  85 

857  France  ravaged  by  the  Normans  -  -  ibid. 

858  Invaded  by  Lewis  the  German,  who  dethrones  his  brother 

Charles  the  Bald  -    '  -  -  ibid. 

Lewis  expelled,  and  Charles  restored  -  86 

Examples  of  the  wickedness  of  Charles  -  ibid. 

Ambitious  projects  of  the  Popes  -  -  87 

860  Lothario,  king  of  Lorrain,  divorces  his  wife  ibid. 

863  Pope  Nicholas  I.  endeavours  to  force  him  to  take  her  back  88 

868  He  goes  to  Rome  in  order  to  justify  himself  -  89 

Dies  on  his  way  home  .  .  _  ibid. 

Charles  the  Bakl  succeeds  to  his  dominions  -  90 

875  The  emperor  Lewis  II.  dies  without  male  heirs  91 

Charles  the  Bald,  in  prejudice  to  his  brother  the  German, 

obtains  the  imperial  crown  -  -  ibid. 

877  Marches  into  Italy,  in  order  to  expel  the  Saracens         92 

Pursued  thither  by  his  nephew  Carloman,  son  of  Lewis  the 

German,  he  attempts  to  retreat,  and  dies  at  a  miserable 

cottage  -  -  -  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XL 

The  Normans  or  Danes,  before  their  Settlement  in  France  and 

England. 
The  Normans  the  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  Scandinavia  92 
They  become  the  terror  of  all  the  maritime  parts  of  Eu- 
rope _  -  _  _  93 
Description  of  their  religion  and  manners  -  ibid. 
Their  singular  contempt  of  death  -  94 
Their  mode  of  conducting  their  piratical  enterprizes  ibi^. 

They 


CONTENTS. 

A.  D.  Page 

845  They  pillage  Rouen  and  burn  Paris  -  95 

877  Charles  the  Bald  publishes  a  capitular,  in  order  to  regulate 

the  contributions  to  be  paid  to  them  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XII. 

England.)  from  the  End  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy^  to  the  Death 
of  Alfred  the  Great. 
827  Egbert,  the  first  sole  Monarch  of  England,  a  Prince  of 
great  abilities  -  -  -  95 

He  defeats  the  Scots  and  Picts  -  -  97 

832  The  Danes  invade  England  -  -         -         ibid. 

835   Expelled  by  Egbert  -  -  -  ibid. 

838  Death  of  that  prince  -  -  -  ibid. 

His  son  Ethelwolf,  a  weak  prince  -  ibid. 

The  Danes  return,  and  long  ravage  England  unmolested  ib. 

851  Defeated  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  -  -  ibid. 

852  They  winter  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  in  the  spring  burn 

the  cities  of  London  and  Canterbury  -  98 

854  Ethelwolf  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  -  ibid. 

856  Confers  the  tithe  on  the  clergy  -  -  ibid. 

England  continues  to  be  infested  by  the  Danes  99 

872  Alfred,  youngest  son  of  Ethelwolf,  succeeds  to  the  throne, 
in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his  elder  brothers     ibid. 
Routs  the  Danes  in  several  engagements  -  ibid. 

875   They  land  in  great  numbers,  and  I'educe  the  Anglo-Saxons 
to  despair  -  -  _  _  loo 

Alfred,  abandoned  by  his  subjects,  is  obliged  to  lay  aside 
the  ensigns  of  his  dignity,  and  assume  the  habit  of  a 
peasant  -  -  -  -  ibid. 

$80  Throws  off  that  disguise  -  -  101 

Defeats  the  Danes  with  great  slaughter  -  102 

Allows  a  body  of  the  vanquished  enemy  to  settle  in  North- 
umberland, on   their  consenting  to  embrace  Christia- 
nity -  -  -  -  .  ibid. 
Establishes  a  regular  militia  for  the  defence  of  his  king- 
dom                 -                 -                 .               -  103 
Creates  a  navy                  -               -                 -                   ibid. 
His  wise  regulations                  -             -               -  104 
890  He  frames  a  body  of  laws                  -              -  106 
Encourages  learning                 -               -             -  107 
Navigation  and  commerce                  -                  -  108 
901  His  death  and  character              _             .               _          ibid.- 

LETTER  XIIL 

Empire  of  Charlemagne,  and  the  Church,  from  the  Death  of 
Charles  the  Bald  to  the  Death  of  Lewis  IV.  when  the  Impe- 
rial Dignity  was  translated  from  the  French  to  the  German. 
«77  Lewis  the  Stammerer,  son  of  Charles  the  Bald  succeeds  to 
the  crown  of  France  -  -  -  109 

i]79  Dies,  leaving  his  Queen  Adelaide  pre§;nant  110 

Is 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

879  Is  succeeded  by  Lewis  III.  and  Carloman  II.  his  two  sons 
by  a  former  marriag^e  -  -  ibid. 

SS-t  Onlhe  death  of  these  Princes,  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fat, 
son  of  Lewis  the  German,  is  elected  king  of  France   ibid. 
Disgraces  himself  by  ceding  Friesland  to  the  Normans  1 1 1 
Jsr  These  Northern  ravagers  besiege  Paris  -  ibid. 

But  relinquish  the  enterprize,  on  receiving  a  ransom  from, 
the  pusillanimous  Charles  -  -  ibid. 

888  He  is  deposed  in  a  Diet  of  the  Empire  -  112 

Arnold,  grandson  of  Lewis  the  German,  is  raised  to  the 
Imperial  throne  -  -  -  ibid. 

898  Charles  III.  surnamed  the  Simple,  son  of  Lewis  the  Stam- 
merer by  Adelaide,  succeeds  to  the  crown  of  France, 
after  a  long  scene  of  contention  -  113 

The  nobles  aspire  openly  at  independency,  and  depress  the 
great  body  of  the  people  -  -  ibid. 

905  The  Normans  establish  themselves  in  France  114 

And  give  to  the  province  of  Ncustria  the  name  of  Nor- 
mandy -  -  -  -  115 
912  Death  of  Lewis  IV.  son  of  the  Emperor  Arnold           ibid. 
The  empire  departs  from  the  Frcncii  to  the  Germans  ibid. 

LETTER  XIV. 

The  German  Empire,  from  the  Election  of  Conrad  I.  to  the 
Death  of  Henry  the  F&wler. 
912  Extent  of  the   German   Empire  at  the  election  of  Con- 
rad I.  -  -  -  -  -  1  If 
His  reign  one  continual  scene  of  troubles             -         ibid. 
917  The  Huns  ravage  the  Empire                    -                     ibid. 
920  Henry  I.  surnamed  the  Fowler,   succeeds  Conrad  in  the 
Imperial  tin-one                -                 .                  -  118 
He  forms  regulations  for  the  security  of  the  Empire     1 19 
925  Conquers  Lorrain              ...              ibid. 
932  Defeats  the  Huns  in  a  great  battle            '      -               ibid. 
956  Dies  in  his  march  for  Italjr                -                  -                 120 
Is  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne,  by  his  sou  Otho,  after- 
ward styled  the  Great                -                 -                 ibid.. 

LETTER  XV. 

France,  from  the  Settlement  of  the  NormaiiSy  to  the  Extinction 

of  the  Carlovingian  Race, 

Liberal  policy  of  Rollo,  Duke  of  Normandy  -  121 

222  Charles  the  Simple  deposed,  and  Robert,  Duke  of  France, 

procluimed  king  ...  ibid. 

923  Rodolph,  Duke  of  Burgundy,   obtains  the  crown  on  the 

death  of  Robert  -  -  -  ibid. 

929  Charles  the  Simple  dies  in  prison  -  -  ibid. 

936  Rodolph  acts  with  resolution  and  vio'our  -  122 

Dies 


CONTENTS. 

Di  Page 

Dies  without  issue,  and  is  succeeded  by  Lewis  the  Stran- 


ger 


ibid. 


Lewis  attempts  in  vain  to  rescue  himself  from  the  tyranny 
of  Hugh  the  Great,  Duke  of  France  '   -  ibid. 

954  Leaves  only  a  shadow  of  royalty  to  his  son  Lothario  ibid. 
966  Lothario  quietly  succeeded  by  his  son  Lewis  V.  123 
987  In  Lewis  V.  ends  the  Carlovingian  line,  or  second  race  of 

French  kings  -  -  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XVL 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies^  Rome  and  the  Ita- 
lian States,  under  Otho  the  Great,  and  his  successors  oj"  the 
House  of  Saxony. 
836  Otho  defeats  the  Hungarians  in  the  plain  of  Dortmund  ibid. 
937  Makes  Bohemia  tributary  to  the  German  Empire         124 
838  Expels  Everhard,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  bestows  the  Duchy 
on  his  uncle  Bartolf  -  -  -  125 

Revives  the  dignity  of  Count  Palatine  -  ibid. 

940  Assembles  a  Diet  at  Arnsberg,  which  appoints  a  judicial 
combat  to  decide  the  rights  of  inheritance  ibid. 

943  He  augments  the  privileges  of  the  German  clergy       125 
Propagates  Christianity  by  force  of  arms  -         ibid. 

952  Conquers  Italy  _  .  _  127 

955  His  son  Ludolphus  revolts  -  -  ibid. 
959  Returns  to  his  duty,  and  dies  -  -  ibid. 
962  Otho  suppresses  a  rebellion  in  Italy,  and  is  crowned  at 

Rome  by  the  Pope  -  -  -  128 

Confirms  to  the  Holy  See  the  donations  of  Pepin  and  Char- 
lemagne -  -  -  -  129 
Orcat  disorders  in  the  Papacy               -             -             ibid. 
966  Oth-o  enters  Italy,  a  third  time,  and  quells  a  new  revolt  130 
970   Returns  to  Germany  covered  with  Glory             -  131 
973   His  son,  Otho  II.  suniamedthe  Sanguinary,  succeeds  him 
in  tlie  Imperial  throne                  -               -                 ibid. 
New  disorders  in  the  Papacy               -               -                 132 
$81   Otho  marches  into  Italy,  and   severely  chastises  the  re- 
bels                ....                   13J 
998  Otho  III.  his  son  and  successor,  takes  Rome  by  assault,  and 
executes  vengeance  on  the  authors  of  another  revolt  134 

1000  Returns  tfj  Germany,  and  erects    Poland   into  a   king- 

dom .  _  .  _  jijj^. 

100 1  Again  marches  into  Italy,  and  expels  the  Saracens  ibid. 

1002  The  empire  sustains  a  great  loss  by  his  death  ibid. 
The  Duke  of  Bavaria,  grandson  of  Olho  II.  elected  Em- 
peror, under  the  name  of  Henry  II.             -  135 

J  005  Marches  into  Italy,  and  is  crowned  king  of  Lombardy  at 

Pavia  -  -  -  .  ibid. 

In  danger  of  losing  his  life  by  a  revolt  of  the  citizens  ibid. 

Quells  the  troubles  in  Germany  -  ibid. 

VOL.  I.  c  Returns 


CONTEiXTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

1014  Returns  to  Italy,  and  is  crowned  at  Rome  by  the  pope  136 

102-1  Increases  in  prosperity  to  the  liour  of  his  death         ibid. 

Appears  to  have  made  a  vow  of  chastity  -  il)id. 

LETTER  XVII. 

Englandj  from  tiie  Death  of  Alfred  to  ths  Reign  of  Canute 
the  Great. 
910  Edward  the  Elder,  the  son  and  successor  of  Alfred,   a 
Prince  of  a  martial  genius  -  -  137 

Engaged  in  perpetual  war  with  the  Danes  -  LIS 

925  His  natural  ^on  Athelstan  succeeds  him  in  the  throne  ib. 
Athelstan  confers  on  Sitheric,  a  Danish  nobleman,  the 
title  of  King  of  Northumberland  -  ibid. 

93  !•  Enters  Scotland  with  a  numerous  army  -         ibid. 

938  Defeats  the   Scots,  Welsh,  and  Danes,  in  a  great  bat- 
tle -  -  -  -  ibid.' 
His  memorable   law   for    the    encouragement    of  com- 
merce                  -                    -                   -  139 
941   Succeeded  by  his  brother  Edmund              -                 ibid. 
945  Edward  conquers  Cumbei'land  from  the  ancient  Britons, 
and  confers  it  on  Malcolm,  King  of  Scotland,  on  condi- 
tion of  his  doing  homage  for  it  to  the  king  of  England  ib. 
948  His  violent  death              -                  -                  -              ibid. 
His  brother  Edred  raised  to  the  throne                       ibid. 
952  Edsed  places  a  governor  over  the  Northumbrian  Danes  ib. 
Delivers  over  his  conscience  to  the  guidance  of  Dunstan, 
abbot  of  Glastonbury                    -                  -  140 
The  rigid  monastic  rules  introduced  into  England  by  that 
Priest                  -                  -              -               -                 141 
The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  enjoined              -               ibid. 
955  Edwy,  the  son  of  Edmund,  who  succeeds  to  the  crown  of 
England,  less  favourable  to  the  Monks           -            142 
Dunstan  publicly  insults  him             -               -             ibid. 
Is  banished  the  kingdom              -              -              -          143 
The  enraged  monks  poison  the  minds  of  the  people  ibid. 
959  Edwy  is  deposed,  and  his  brother  Edgar  placed  on  the 
throne             _             -             -             -             _         ibid. 
Wise  policy  of  Edgar              -              -              -               1 44 
His  great  power  and  prosperity             -             -           ibid. 
Secures  the  favour  of  Dunstan  and  the  monks           ibid. 
His  licentious  amours           -             -             -            -          145 
Story  of  Elfrida              -              -             -          -              ibid. 
Violent  death  of  Athelvvokl              -                -               ibid. 
Edgar  marries  Elfrida              -                -              -             146 
Extir)nites  wolves  from  England  and  Wales               ibid. 
97 o  Succeeded  by  his  son,  Edward  the  Martyr         -         ibid. 
078  Edward,  murdered  at  the  instigation  of  his  step-mother 
Elfrida,  in  order  to  make  room  for  her  son  Ethelred  ibid. 
Ethclred,  a  weak  Prince             -             -           -           ibid. 

Meanly 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

Meanly  compounds  with  the  Danes  for  his  safety  148 

1002  Cruel  massacre  of  the  Danes  throughout  England       ibid. 

1003  Sweyn,  King  of  Denmark,  takes  vengeance  on  the  English 

for  the  slaughter  of  his  countrymen  -  149 

1013  Ethelred  abandons  the  kingdom,  and  seeks  refuge  in  the  court 

of  his  brother-in-law,  Richard,  Duke  of  Norm.andy  ibid. 

1014  Returns  on  the  death  of  Sweyn         ...         ibid. 

1015  Finds  a  terrible  enemy  jin  Canute,  the  son  and  successor 

of  that  prince  ....  ibid. 

1016  Dies  in  the  midst  of  his  troubles         -  -         -        150 
Edmond  Ironside,  his  son,  bravely  struggles  for  the  inde- 
pendency of  his  kingdom            -             »  -  ibid. 

Betrayed  by  his  general  Edric,  and  obliged  to  divide  his 
dominions  with  Canute  -  -  -  ibid. 

1017  Murdered  by  his  chamberlains  -  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XVIII. 

France,  from  the  Accession  of  Hugh  Capet,  to  the  invasion  of 
England  by  William  Duke  of  A'^urmandj. 

987  Hugh  Capet,  son  of  Hugh  the  Great,  the  most  powerful 

Nobleman  in  France,  seizes  the  crov/n  on  the  death  of 
Lewis  V.  -  -  -  -  -  151 

988  He  associates  his  son  Robert  in  the  government  152 
991   Makes  prisoner  the  Duke  of  Lorrain,  who  attempted  to 

dispute  his  right  to  the  crown         _         .         _         ibid. 

996  Is  quietly  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert  -  155 

998  Gregory  V.  the  reigning  Pope,  dissolves  the  marriage  of 

Robert  -  _         .         _  _  .  ibid. 

And  excommunicates  him  for  persisting  in  keeping  Bertha, 

his  queen  .  .  .  _  -         ibid. 

Terrible  effects  of  the  sentence  of  excommunication     154 

1024  Robert  rejects  the  imperial  dignity  -  -  ibid. 

Great  disorders  in  his  family  -  -  ibid. 

1031   He  dies  amid  those  disorders  -  -  155 

His  son  Henry  I.  succeeds  him  in  the  throne  of  France  ibid. 

Henry  is  supported  by  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy      156 

Robert  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  -  ibid. 

1035  Dies  before  his  return  -  .  .  ibid. 

1046  The  battle  of  Val  de  Dunes  gives  William,  his  natural 

son,  full  possession  of  the  duchy         -  -  157 

1060  Henry  I.  succeeded  by  his  son  Philip  I.  -  ibid. 

1066  William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  prepares  for  the  invasion  of 

England  -  -  -  -  -  158 

1067  Philip  I.  assumes  the  reins  of  government  -         ibid. 

LETTER  XIX. 

England,  from  the  Danish  to  the  Norman  Conquest. 
1017  Canute,  the  Dane,  in  consequence  of  the  murder  of  Ed- 
mond Ironside,  becomes  sole  .'sovereign  of  England  159 

Liberal 


CONTENTS. 
A.  B.  Page 

Liberal  policy  of  Canute  -  -  ^  160 

1019   Ik*  visits  Denmark  ...  -  IGl 

1028   Makes  himself  master  of  Norway  -  -  ibid. 

Sees  the  insigniiican'cy  of  human-greatness  -         ibid. 

1031    IMakes  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  -  -         -  162 

1035  His  son  Harold  iiarefoot  succeeds  him  in  the  throne  of 
Englar.d  ...  -  -  ibid. 

1031)  Harold  Iiarefoot  reigns  four  years,  and  is  succeeded  by  his 
brother  H'ii'dicaniite,  a  brave  prince  -  ibid. 

1041  On  the  Death  of  Hardicanute,  the  English  shake  off  the 
Danish  yoke,  and  place  on  the  throne  of  his  ancestors  Ed- 
ward, surnamed  the  Confessor,  son  of  the  luifortunate 
•Ethelred  ....  ibid. 

Though  a  good  prince,  Edward  disgusts  the  English  by  the 
fa\our  which  he  shews  to  the  Normans,  among  whom  he 
had  been  educated,  and  who  thronged  his  court        163 
1051   Earl  Godwin  rebels,  and  is  expelled  the  kingdom        ibid. 

1053  He  returns  and  reduces  the  king  to  conditions  ibid. 
Great  power  of  his  son  Harold             -             -  164 

1054  Macbeth,  usurper  to  the  crown  of  Scotland,  defeated  and 

slain  by  an  English  army  under  Siward,  Duke  of  North- 
umberland T         -  -  -         -  ibid. 

Anecdotes  of  Siward  -  -  -  -         ibid. 

1066  Harold  obtains  the  crown  of  England,  on  the  death  of  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor  -  -  -  166 

He  defeats  the  Danes  in  a  great  battle  -  167 

His  right  to  the  English  crown  disputed  by  William,  Duke 
of  Normandy,  who  lands  on  the  coast  of  Sussex,  at  the 
head  of  sixty  thousand  men  -  -  168 

Harold  slain  in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  which  lays  open  the 
succession  of  England  to  the  Duke  of  Normandy      174 

View  of  the  state  of  England  under  the  Anglo-Saxons  ib. 

Singular  manners  and  customs  -  -  -         176 

LETTER  XX. 

Spain,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Empire  of  Constantinople,  during  the 
Ninth,  'Tenth,   and  part  of  the  Eleventh  Centurj. 
SPAIN. 
Pissentions  among  the  Moors  favourable  to   the  Chris- 
tians -  -  -  -  -  178 
The  kingdom  of  Asturias,  or  of  Leon,  and  Oviedo,  increases 
under  Alphonso  III.           .           .          _          _         ibjd. 
fSS  The  kingdom  of  Navarre  founded  by  Garcias  Ximenes  ib. 
938  Ramiero  II.  king  of  Leon,  and  Oviedo,  gains  over  the 
Moors  the  celebrated  victory  of  Simancas         -  179 
Great  success  of  Almanzor,  the  Moorish  general         ibid. 
998  His  defeat  and  death             -             -               -                180 

The 


CONTENTS. 

A.  D,  Page 

The  ^Mahometan  kingdom  of  Cordova,  on  the  extinction 
of  the  race  of  Abdurrahman,  divided  into  many  petty 
sovereignties  .  _  .  .  ibid. 

The  Christian  kingdoms  subdivided  in  like  manner     ibid. 

Freedom  of  the  people  of  A rragon  -  -  ibid. 

Singular  privileges  of  their  Justiza,  or  Grand  Judge     181 

EMPIRE  OF  THE  ARABS. 

Th.e  African  Governors  shake  oil'  their  dependence  on  the 
Caliph  -  -  -  -  -  182 

Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli,  become  independent  states  ib. 

969  The  Fattimides,  a  Mahometan  sect,  found  an  empire  in 

Egypt,  and  make  Cairo  the  seat  of  a  new  Caliph     ibid. 

Another  sect  seize  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  and  found 
the  kingdom  of  Morocco  _  _  _  ibid. 

The  caliphs  of  Bagdat,  gradually  stript  of  their  power  by 
the  Turks,  a  Tartar  tribe,  originally  hired  as  common 
mercenaries,  and  afterwards  employed  as  the  royal 
guard  -  _  -  .  -  ibid, 

A  variety  of  sovereigns  spring  up  under  the  name  of  Sul- 
tans -  _  ,  -  _  183 

EMPIRE  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

The  extent  of  this  empire  yet  considerable  ibid. 

S 1 1   Nicephorus,  an  execrable  tyrant,  made  prisoner,  and  put 
to  death  by  the  Bulgarians  -  -  ibid. 

The  Saracens  in  his  reign  conquer  the  island  of  Cyprus  ib. 
Leo,  the  Armenian,  attempts  to  assassinate  the  king  of  the 
Bulgarians;  who,   in  revenge,  pillages  the  suburbs  of 
Constantinople  -  -  -  184 

Superstition  of  Michael  the  Stammerer  -  ibid. 

323  In  his  reign  the  Saracens  make  themselves  master  of  the 
island  of  Crete  -  -  -  ibid. 

The  Empress  Theodora  persecutes  the  Manicheans     184 
The  grand  schism  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches 
brought  to   a  crisis   by  the  conversion   of  the  Bulga- 
rians -  -  -  -  -  185 

879  The  two  primates  excommunicate  each  other         -      ibid. 
922  Constantine    Porphyrogenetus,    an  encourager  of  learn- 
ing -----  186 

961  Nicephorus  Phocas  recovers  Crete  and  other  places  from 

the  Saracens       -  -  -  _  .      ibid. 

He  is  murdered  in  bed  _  _  -  ibid. 

Basil  11.  vanquishes  the  Bulgarians  -  -     ibid. 

I03i-  The  crimes  of  the  princess  Zoe,  and  the  wretched  state  of 

the  Empire  -  -  -  -  187 

Constantine  Ducas  abandons  the  Asiatic  provinces  to  the 
Turks        -         -  -  -  -  -        188 

His 


CONTENTS. 

A.  D.  Page 

1063  His  widow  Eudoxia,  whom  he  had  left  regent  during  the 

minority  of  his  three  sons,  marries  Romanus  Diogenes, 

who  had  hcen   condemned  to  suffer  death  as  a  pubUc 

malefactor,  and  procures  for  him  the  imperial  crown  ibid,. 

LETTER  XXI. 

Progress  of  Society  in  Europe^  from  the  Settlement  of  the 
Modern  Nations  to  the  Middle  of  the  Eleventh  Centurj. 

The  nations,  who  subverted  the  Roman  empire,  generally 
embrace  the  Christian  religion  -  -         189 

The  clergy  gainers,  but  Christianity  a  loser  by  their  con- 
version -  -  -  -  -  19a 

They  blend  with  its  doctrines  and  ceremonies  their  former 
gross  superstitions         ....       ibid. 

Corrupt  state  of  Christianity,  the  ignorance  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  disorders  of  the  church,  together  with  those  of 
government  and  manners  during  the  middle  ages      19  L 

These  disorders  attain  their  heights  beiort;  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century  -  -  -  -  193 

Causes  that  contributed  to  banish  anarchy  and  barbarism, 
and  introduce  order  and  politeness         -  -        195 

Keneficial  effects  of  chivalry  -  -  -     196 

Its  origin  and  character  as  a  civil  and  military  institution  ib. 

Its  liberal  spirit  -  -  -  -  197 

That  spirit  strongly  counteracted  by  the  Monastic  Institu- 
tions      -  -  -  -  -  -        199 

Account  of  the  origin  of  those  institutions,  and  of  the  ex- 
travagance of  the  rage  for  pious  solitude         -       '     200 

Disorders  of  the  Monks  and  Nuns  -  -         202 

Chivalry,  by  awakening  an  ardour  for  enterprise,  and  a  ge- 
nerous passion  for  the  softer  sex,  saves  Europe  from 
monastic  tyranny  -  -       .       ■  -      203 

LETTER  XXIL 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Ita- 
lian States^  under  Conrad  II.  and  his  Descendants  of  the 
House  of  Franconia. 
1024  Disputes  on  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Henry  II.         204 
Coniad,   Duke  of  Franconia,  elected   by  the  princes  and 
states,  after  six  weeks  deliberation         -  -       ibid. 

He  marches  into  Italy,  quells  a  revolt,  and  is  crowned  at 
Rome  ,  .  .  .  -  ibid. 

Retui'ns  to  Germany,  suppresses  a  rebellion,  and  gets  his 
son  Henry  declared  his  successor  -  -  ibid. 

Humbles  the  Poles  and  Huns  -  -  ibid. 

1034  Obtains  the  succession   of  the  kingdom  of  Transiurane 
Burgvmdy         -----        ibid. 
1039  Extinguishes  a  rebellion  in  Italy,  and  dies  on  his  return  to 
Germany  ....  -      105 

Henry 


CONTENTS. 
A.  u.  Page 

.   Hemy  III.  succeeds  his  father  in  the  imperial  throne  ibid. 
The  first  years  of  his   reign  distinguished  by  successful 
wars  in  Bohemia,  Pohuid,  and  Hungary  -  ibid. 

Rome  and  Italy  distracted  by  factions         -  -     ibid. 

1046  Henry  composes  the  disorders  there,  and  is  crowned  by 
Clement  II.  whom  he  had  raised  to  the  papacy         206 
10-17  Enters  into  a  treaty   with  Drago,  Rainulphus,  and  other, 
Norman  adventurers,  who  had  established  themselves 
in  Apulia  and  Calabi'ia,  at  the  expense  of  the  Greek  em- 
perors ,  -  .  .  .  ibid. 
Intrigues  of  Hildebrand  the  Monk,  at  the  election  of  Pope 
Leo  IX.               .....      207 

1053  Leo  having  made  war  unsuccessfully  against  the  Norman 
adventurers,  joins  his  sanction  to  the  imperial  investi- 
ture for  the  lands  which  they  held  in  Calabria  208 
The  emperer  causes  his  infant  son,  Henry,  to  be  declared 
king  of  the  Romans,  a  title  still  in  use  for  the  acknow- 
ledged heir  to  the-  imperial  crown               -               ibid. 
Alarmed  at  the  ambitious  projects  of  his  sister  Beatrice, 
Dowager  Marchioness  of  Mantua,  who  had  married  the 
Duke  of  Lorrain,  and  contracted  her  daughter  Matilda, 
by  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  to  the  Duke  of  Spoleto,  he 
marches  into  Italy  and  carries  her  off             -           ibid. 
1056  Dies  soon  after  his  return  to  Germany           -            -     209 
Henry  IV.  only  five  years  old  at  his  father's  death      ibid. 
Troubles  of  Germany,  and  usurpations  of  the  RoraanPon- 
tiffs  during  his  minority         ...           ibid. 
1072  He  assumes  the  reins  of  government  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  and  begins  his  administration  with  suppressing  dis- 
orders and  remedying  abuses              -             -  211 
Is  summoned  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Holy 
See,  by  Pope  Alexander  II.  for  having  exposed  the  in- 
vestiture of  bishops  to  sale              -               -               ibid. 
He  treats  the  mandate  with  contempt       -             -         212 
107.3   Hildebrand   elected   Pope,   under  the   name    of  Gregory 
VII.             .....             ibid. 

The  Emperor  confirms  his  election  -  -     ibid. 

He  begins  his  pontificate  with    exconmiunicating  every 
clergyman,    who  should  receive  a  benefice  from  a  lay- 
man, and  every  layman  by  whom  such  benefice  should 
be  conferred  ....  ibid. 

Attempts  to  ntiake  himself  lord  of  Christendom,  by  freeing 
the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Civil  Power,  and  subjecting  all  Temporal  Princes 
to  the  authority  of  the  See  of  Rome  -  ibid. 

Summons  the  Emperor  to  appear  before  him  for  continu- 
ing to  bestow  investitures  ...    ibid. 
1076  Henry,  enraged  at  that  arrogant  message,  sends  an  am- 
bassador 


CONTENTS. 
A.  Dk  Page 

bassador  to   Rome  with  a  formal   deprivation  of  Gre- 
gory -  -  -  -  -  214 
The  Pope  deposes  and  excommunicates  the  Emperor  ibid. 

1077  Overwhelmed  with   enemies,  in  consequence  of  the  dis- 

pleasure of  the  head  of  the  Church,  Henry  humbles  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  his  Holiness  -  -  216 
Elated  with  his  triumph,  Gregory  becomes  more  haughty 
and  insolent              -              -             -             -  217 

1078  He  induces  the  Germans  to  elect  another  Emperor     ibid. 

1080  Henry  defeats  his  antagonist,  degrades  Gregory,  and  gets 

another  Pope  elected  -  -  -  218 

1081  Victorious  in  Germany,  he  marches  into  Italy,  and  makes 

himself  master  of  Rome  after  a  siege  of  two  years    219 
1085  Gregory,  having  taken  refuge  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
escapes  to  Salerno,  and  there  dies  -  -     220 

Germany  involved  in  new  troubles         -  -  ibid. 

1090  Conrad,  the  emperor's  eldest  son,  rebels  against  his  father, 
and  assumes  the  title  of  king  of  Italy         -         -      ibid. 
Is  generally   acknowledged  by  the   Italian  cities  and  no- 
bles -  -  -  -  -  221 

1099  His  brother  Henry  is  declared  king  of  the  Romans     ibid. 

1 100  Conrad  dies,   after  having  been  put  to  the  ban  of  the  em- 

pire, and  the  king  of  the  Romans  rebels  against  his  fa- 
ther _  _  _  -  ibid* 
1106  Henry  IV.  treacherously  made  prisoner  by  this  unnatural 
son,  is  divested  of  the  imperial  ensigns           -  222 
Makes  his  escape,  but  dies  before  he  can  efiect  his  resto- 
ration                 _                .                _                _                223 
Henry  V.  maintains  the  right  of  investiture         -         224 
Attempts  in  vain  to  settle  the  dispute  by  argument    ibid* 
1 1 1 1  Enters  Italy  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  and  takes  the 
Pope  prisoner                  -                  -                -                225 
His  right  of  investiture  confirmed,  and  afterwards  denied 
by  Pascal  II.                  -                  -                  -              ibid. 
1116  He  marches  into  Italy  a  second  time,  and  enters  Rome  in 
triuirtph                     -                   -                    -                  ,226 
1 122  The  dispute  in  regard  of  investitures  settled  by  a  general 
council                  -                  _              _              -               227 
1125  Death  of  Henry  V.           -             -             -          -           228 

LETTER  XXIII. 

England-,  from  tJic  Battle  of  Hastings  to  tlie  death  of  Henry  I. 
1066  Consternation  of  the  people  of  England  -  229 

William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  marches  toward  London  ib. 
Is  met  by  the  nobility  and  clergy,  who  declare  their  inten- 
tion of  submitting  to  his  authority  -  230 
Takes  the  usual  oath  administered  to  the   Anglo-Saxon 
kings,  and  is  crowned  in  Westminster  abbey            ibid. 

Confirms 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

10o7  Confirms  the  nobility  and  t^entry  in  the  possession  of 
tlicu-  lands  and  dignities,  and  London,  and  all  the  other 
r.ities  of  England,  in  the  enjoyment  ol  their  liberties 
and  immunilies  -  -  -  231 

But  every  where  disarms  the  natives,  and  places  all  real 
power  in  the  hands  oi  the  Normans,  among  whom  he 
divides  the  forfeited  estates  of  Harold  and  those  of  his 
adherents  .  _  .  _  232 

He  visits  Normandy  -.  -  -  ibid. 

The  English  rebel  hi  his  absence  -  233 

1068  He  returns  and  humbles  the  insurgents  -  ibid. 

The  English  again  attempt  to  shake  off  the  Norman 
yoke  -  ....  235 

The  revolt  becomes  general  -  -  ibid. 

J059  William  politically  breaks  the  force  of  his  enemies,  by 
corrupting  tlieir  leaders,  and  reduces  the  whole  king- 
dom, to  a  state  of  the  most  humiliating  subjection  236 
1070  He  lays  waste  the  country  to  the  extent  of  sixty  miles, 
between  the  Humber  and  the  Tees  -  237 

ConBscates  the  estatesofthe  principal  English  landholders, 
and  bestows  them  upon  his  Norman  followers         238 
Introduces  the  feudal  polity  into  England  ibid. 

His  regulations  in  regard  to  the  church  -  239 

1076  His  son  Robert  rebels  against  him  in  Normandy        242 
Robert  expelled  by  an  English  army  -  ibid. 

1079  A  reconciliation  between  the  father  and  the  son  brought 
about  by  a  singular  circumstance  -  ibid. 

1081  William  orders  a  general  survey  to  be  taken  of  all  the 
lands  in  England  .  _  _  243 

1087  His  death  and  character  ^  _  -  244 

He  is  succeeded  in  the  duchy  of  Normandy  by  his  eldest 
son  Robert,  and  in  the  kingdom  of  England  by  Willi- 
am, his  second  son,  surnamed  Rvifus  -  ibid. 
1089  Tyrannical  government  of  William  II.              -  246 
Generous  disposition  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy    247 
He  enlists  himself  in  the  first  crusade,  and  mortgages  his 
dominions  to  his  brother  W'illiam                -  248 
1097  William  quarrels  with  Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  confiscates  all  his  temporalities     -         ibid. 
He  is  threatened  with  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
by  the  Pope,  who  protects  the  primate             -        249 
Anselm  distinguishes  himself  in  the  council  of  Bari  ibid. 
1100  William  Rufus  accidentally  killed  by  an  arrow  250 
His  impious  and  tyrannical  character              -  251 
His  younger  brother  Henry  ascends  to  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land, without  regarding  the  prior  righi  of  Robert  ibid. 
Henry  I.  courts  popularity         -             -             -  '       252 

Grants 
TOL.  I.  D 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

Grints  5  charter  of  liberties  to  his  English  subjects   ami 
reinstates  Ansehn  in  the  see  of  Canterbury         -     ibid. 
IIOI   His  brother  Roljert  returns  from  the  Holy  Land,  and  in- 
vades England         .  .  _  .  ibid. 
An  accommodation  brought  about  through  the  mediation 
of  Anselm         -             -             -             -          -  253 
Henry  persecutes  Robert's  adherents             -             ibid. 
1106  Mak'^s  himself  master  of  the  duchy  of  Normandy     ibid. 
Carries  Robert  prisoner  into  England,  and  confines  him 
for  life  in  Cardiff  castle            -              -            -            ibid. 

1119  Defeats  the  French  near  Andeley  in  Normandy  255 

1120  His  only  son  William,  who  had  accompanied   him,  is 

shipwrecked,  and  perishes  with  all  his  retinue  on  his 
return  -  -         -  -  -  ibid. 

1127  Marries  his  daughter  Matilda  to  Geoffrey  Plantagenct, 
eldest  son  to  the  Count  of  Anjou  -  ibid. 

1133   Matilda  delivered  of  a  son,   named  Henry  ibid. 

1135  Henry  I.  dies,  leaving  his  daughter  Matilda  heiress  of  all 
his  domiriions  ...  256 

Reflections  on  the  government  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  ibid. 
That  government  highly  favourable  to  liberty  257 

Changes  produced  in  it  by  the  Norman  conquest      253 
Rigour  of  the  Anglo-Norman  government  259 

That  rigour  ultimately  favourable  to  the  cause  of  free- 
dom .....  2r)d 
In  the  struggles  between  the  king  and  the  nobles,  the 
people  recover  their  consequence                 -               261 

LETTER  XXIV. 

France^  iimky  riillip  I.  and  Lewis  VI.  with  some  Account  of 
the  First  Crusade, 

1095  Philip  I.  excommunicated  by  Urban    II.  in  the   famous 

council  of  Clermont,  where  the  lirst  crusade  was 
preached  ...  -  262 

Origin  of  the  Crusades — a  desire  of  recovering  the  Holy 
Land  from  the  infidels,  and  a  hope  of  beholding  the 
sudden  appearance  of  Christ  on  Mount  Sion  264 

Ardour  for  the  Holy  War  excited  by  Peter  the  Hermit  265 

1096  Persons  of  all  ranks  fly  to  arms,  and  march  toward  Asia, 

under  the  banner  fjf  the  cross  -  26S 

They  are  guilty  of  the  greatest  disorders  in  their  pro- 
gress .  .  .  .  ^  ibid. 

1097  At  length  reach  Constantinople,  alarm  the  Greek  emperor 

by  tlieir  numbers,  and  muster  a  prodigious  army  on 

the  banks  of  the  B.osi)iiorus  -  -  267 

1093  Make  themselves  masters  of  Nice  and  Antioch,  and  break 

the  power  of  the  Turks  -  -  269 

Invest 


CONTENTS. 

A.   B.  P^K^S 

1099  Invest  Jerusalem,  and  take  it  by  assault,  after  a  sic^e 
of  five  weeks  -  ~         -  -  -  2,'0 

Godfrey  of  Bouillon  chosen  king  of  Jerusnlem  ibid. 

Philip  I.  absolved  from  the  sentence  of  excommunication, 
in  consequence  of  the  deatli  of  Urban  II.  270 

He  associates  with  him  his  son  Lewis  in  the  govern- 
ment -  -  -  -  2^^ 

Lewis  VI.  corrects  the  licenliousness  of  the  Nobles  ibid. 

He  establishes  the  commons,  or  third  branch  of  the  le- 
gislature, enfranchises  the  villains  or  bondmen,  and 
regulates  the  courts  of  justice  -  272 

U37  Dies  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age,  and  is  succeeded  by 
his  son  Lewis  VII.  -  -  273 

LETTER  XXV. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  a?id  the  Ita- 
lian States,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  V.  to  the  Election  of 
Frederic  I.  surnamed  Barbarossa. 
ills  Lothario,  Duke  of   Saxe    Supplenbourg,   elected    Em- 
peror _  _  -  -  -  ibid. 
1132  He  marches  into  Italy,  and  re-establishes  Innocent  II. 
in  the  papal  chair             -             -               -  274 
Orders  justice  to  be  administered  in  the  empire  accord- 
ing to  the  Roman  or  Civil  code               -                  ibid. 

1 139  Dies  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  and  is  succeeded  in 

the  imperial  throne  by  Conrad,  Duke  of  Franconia  275 

1140  Origin  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibelins  -  ibid. 

Singular  example  of  conjugal  affection  fT^ 

1147  Conrad  III.  engages  in  the  second  crusade,  along  vVith 

his  nephew,   Frederic  Barbarossa  -  277 

LETTER  XXVL 

France,  tender  Lewis  VII.  till  the  Divorce  of  'Shieen  Eleanor^ 
Hvith  some  Account  of  the  second  Crusade. 

1145  Lewis  VII  enraged  at  his  rebellious  subjects,  orders  the 

town  of  \''itri  to  be  set  on  fire  -  -  ibid. 

That  cruel  command  makes  a  deep  impression  on  his 
mind  -  -  -  -      .       -  ibid. 

St.  Bernard  exhorts  him  to  expiate  his  guilt  by  an  expe- 
dition to  the  Holy  Land,  where  the  Christians  were  in 
great  distress  -  -  -  -        278 

1146  He  takes  the  cross  at  Vazelai  in  Burgundy         -         ibid. 
Eleanor  his  Queen,  heiress  of  Guienne  and  Poitou,  also 

takes  the  cross ;  and  the  example  of  the  royal  pair  is 
followed  by  many  of  the  chief  Nobility,  and  by  a  mul- 
titude of  people  of  inferior  condition  -  ibid. 

1 147  The  Emperor,  jealous  of  the  King  of  France,  marches  be- 

fore hira  into  the  Holy  Land,  and  is  defeated      -     280 

Lewis 


CONTENTS. 

it.  »»■  ?3^C 

Lewis  follows  Conrad,  and  is  not  more  fortunate  ibid. 
He  is  dishonoured  by  Queen  Eleanor,  his  pious  consort  1 81 
Divorces  her  .  _  _  -  ibid* 

She  marries  Henry  Plantagenet,  duke  of  Noraiandy,  and 
presumptive  heir  to  the  crown  of  England         -      ibid. 

LETTER  XXVII. 

England,  from  the   Death  of  Henry  1.  to   the  Accession   cf 
Henry  II. 
1135   Stephen,  count  of  Boulogne,  grandson  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, usurps  the    crown  of  England  on  the  death  of 
Henry  I.  in  violation  of  the  right  of  the  heiress  Ma- 
tilda _  -  ...  282 
1L36  Grants  exorbitant  privileges  to  the  nobility  andcletgy  ibid. 
Wretched  state  of  the  common  people  under  his  reign  ibid. 
David  King  of  Scotland  appears  in  support  of  Matilda's  title 
to  the  English  crown              -              -              -            ibid. 

1138  Battre  of  the  staiidard  -  -  -  -  283 
Scots  routed  with  great  slaughter       -             -  ibid. 

1139  Matilda  lands  in  England  .  _  -  ibid. 
She  is  joined  by  several  barons  -  -  284 
England  desolated  by  civil  war                 -             -         ibid. 

1148  A  cessation  of  arms  takes  place,  and  Matilda  retires  into 
Normandy  .  _  .  .  ibid. 

1153  Her  son  Henry  invades  England  -  -  285 
Evacuates  the  kingdom  on  having  the  succession  secured' 

to  him  .  -  _  -  -        ibid. 

1154  Death  and  character  of  Stephen         -  ...     385 

LETTER  XXVin. 

Engla7idy  during  the  Reign  of  Henry  II.  with  an  account  of 
the  affairs  of  France. 
1154  Extensive  continental  dominions  of  Henry  H.         -      2^7 
His  popularity  in  England  _  -  _       jbid. 

Civil  and  military  regulation  _  _  .    288 

1162  He  attempts  to  reform  the  abuses  of  the  church  289 
Difficulty  of  that  undertaking         _             -             -      ibid. 
Character  of  Thomas  a  Becket,   archbishop   of  Canter- 
bury             -----  2<X> 

He  declares  himself  the  champion  of  the  clergy  291 

1163  They  plead  an  exemption  from  all  civil  jurisdiction,  and 

are  guilty  of  the  greatest  enormities         -  -     292 

1164  In  order  to  subject  them  to  the  authority  of  the  legislature, 

the  King  enacts  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  ibid* 

Becket  opposes  the  operation  of  those  statutes,  appeals  to. 

the  Holy  See,  and  takes  refuge  in  Erancc  -  294 
The   Pope   annuls   the  Constitutions   of  Clarendon,   and. 

threatens  Henry    with    the    sentence    of  excommuni- 

eation  -      '       -  -    •         -  -  2.95- 

Afraid 


CONTENTS. 

-A.  D,  Ps^ge 

1170  Afraid   of  the   thunder  of  the  church,  the  king  permit* 
Becket  to  return  to  the  see  of  Canterbury         -         297 
Insolence  and  arrogance  of  the  pnmate  -  298 

He  is  murdered  by  four  gentlemen  of  the   king's  house- 
hold -----  299 
!  171   Henry   H.  sends   ambassadors   to   Rome  to  maintain  his 
innocence  of  that  crime             .             -             _        300 
Miracles   said   to  be  wrought  at  the  shrine  of  Thomas  a. 
Becket              -----          ibid. 
Henry  undertakes  the  conquest  of  Ireland               -     ibid. 
State  of  that  country              -              -              -                  301 

1172  Subdued  by  the  English  Monarch  -  -       ibid. 
Henry  purges  himself  by  oath  of  any  concern  in  the  mur- 
der of  Becket              _              .              .              -  302 

1173  His  tliree  sons  rebel  against  him,  and  are  supported  by 

the  kings  of  France  and  Scotland  -  -    ibid. 

1 1 74  He  walks  bare-footed  to  Becket's  tomb  and  prostrates  him- 

self before  the  shrine  of  the  reputed  saint  in  order  finally 

to  make  his  peace  with  the  church  -  -  303 

Gains  on  the  same  day  a  victory  over  the  Scots     -     ibid. 

1175  Subdues  his   rebellious  barons  both  in  England  and  Nor- 

mandy, and  accomodates  matters  with  his  sons         304 
Frames  several  wise  ordinances  for  the  government  of  hla 
kingdom  _  -  -  -  -     ibid. 

1 183  Philip  Augustus  succeeds  to  the  crown  of  France         306 
1183  He   enters   into   a  confederacy  with  prince  Richard,  heir 
apparent  to  the  crown  of  England  -  -    307 

1189  Richard  sub-dues  the  barons   of  Poitou,  Guienne,  Anjou, 
and  Normandy  .  -  _  -        ibid. 

His  father  oblig-ed  to  submit  to  his  demands  ibid. 

Death  and  character  of  Henry  U.        -  -  308 

Many  foreign  im.provements  introduced  into  England  du- 
lling his  reign  -  -  -  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XXIX. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Ita-- 
lian  Slates,  under  Frederick  I.  siirnamed  Barbarossa,  with 
some  account  of  the  tliird  Crusade. 

1152  Frederick  duke  of  Swabia,  surnamed  Barbarossa,  elected 
Emperor  on  the  death  of  Conrad  III.  -  309 

He  receives  the  oath  of  fealty  from  Frederick  king  of  Den- 
mark, as  a  vassal  of  the  empire  -  -         3 1  a 
Marches  into  Italy  Avhere  he  asserts  with  vigour  the  im- 
perial authority              -              -              -  -        313 
1158  Conquers  Poland,  and  erects  it  into  a  tribut:irr  kingdom   ib. 
IU9  Returns  into  Italy,  which  was  distracted  by  civil  and  reli- 
gious dissentigps             .             _             ,  -     ibid. 

Acts. 


CONTExXTS. 

Jt.  D.  Page 

1162  Acts  there  with  extreme  rigour  -  -  313 

1 1 68  The  principal   Italian   cities  enter  into  an  association  for 

the  defence  of  their  liberties         -  -  -     314 

11 76  The  imperial  army  defeated  by  the  confederates,  and  the 

imperial  fleet  by  the  Venetians         -  -  315 

Origin  of  th.e  ceremony  of  wedding  the  Adriatic         ibid. 
The  Emperor  in  his  turn  victorious  -  -    ibid. 

1177  The  Italian  cities  submit,  on  obtaining  a  general  pardon, 

and  liberty  to  use  their  own  laws  and  forms  of  govern- 
ment -----  ibid. 

1179  New  regulation  with  regard  to  election  of  the  Popes    316 

1180  The  Emperor  composes  the  troubles  of  Germany,   and 

makes  laws  for  the  preservation  of  its  peace  and  good 

order  -  -  -  -  -  317 

1187  Resolves  to  undertake  an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land  ib. 

Languishing  state  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  ibid. 

The  Holy  City  taken  by  Saladin  -  -         ibid. 

1 1 90  Frederic   Barbarossa  crosses  the  Helespont  w  ith  a  great 

army  -  -  -  -  -  319 

Defeats  the  Turks  in  several  battles         -  -        ibid. 

Takes  the  city  of  Iconium,  and  passes  Movmt  Tauris    ili. 

Dies  in  consequence  of  bathing  in  the  cold  river  Cydnus    ib. 

LETTER  XXX. 

France   and  England,  from    the  Death  of  Henry  II.  to  the 
granting  of  the  Great  Charter  by  King  John,  with  a  far- 
ther Account  of  the  third  Crusade. 
1190  Richard  I.   of  England,   and  Philip  II.  of  France,  under- 
take a  joint  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land  -     320 

Quarrel  at  Messina  in  tlie  island  of  Sicily,  but  are  seem- 
ingly reconciled  -  -  .  .       323 
'tl91   Arrive  in  Syria,  and  undertake  the  siege  of  Ptolemais  324 

Reduce  the  place  after  a  desperate  siege         -         -    ibid. 

The  king  of  France  returns  to  Evu'ope  in  disgust         325 

1 192  The  king  of  England  defeats  Saladin  in  a  great  battle,  and 

arrives  within  sight  of  Jerusalem  -  -        ib. 

But  being  abandoned  by  his  associates,  he  is  obliged  to  re- 
linquish his  enterprize,  and  conclude  a  truce  with  the 
Saracen  Emperor  -  -  -  -     326 

Death  and  character  of  Saladin  -  -  327 

1193  Richard,  returning  in  disguise,  is  made  prisoner  by  the 

duke  of  Austria,  and  confined  in  a  dungeon  in  Ger- 
many -----  ibid. 

The  king  of  France,  and  Richard's  brother  John  endeavour 
to  make  themselves  masters  of  his  dominions      -       328 

He  purchases  his  release  with  a  large  ransom         -     329 

The  joy  of  the  English  nation  on  his  return         «       ibid. 

War  between  France  and  England  -  -      330 

Richard 


CONTENTS. 

A.  D.  Page 

1199  Richard  mortally  wounded  by  an  arrow  -  ibid. 

Succeeded,  after  a  bloody  dispute,  in-  his  brother  John    332 
J  205  John's  foreign  dominions  arc  adjudged  forfeited    to  the 
crown  of  France,  and  successively  subdued  by  Philip  Au- 
gustus -  _  .  .  .         ibid. 
He  is  universally  despised  in  England             -  3o3 
Draws  upon  himself  the  indignation  of  the  clergy       ibid. 
1207  His  kingdom  is  laid  under  an  interdict  by  the  Pope         334 
Awful  execution  of  that  sentence             -             -          ibid. 
Innocent    HI.    publishes   a    Crusade    against    the    Albi- 
genses              _              _              _              .              .          335 
1213  Denounces  against   the  king  of  England  the  sentence  of 
deposition,  and  entrusts  the  execution  of  it  to  the  king 
of  France             -----     335 
Both  kings  prepare  for  war         -             -             .         ibid. 
Johp  r^ojectly  agrees  to  put  himself  under  the  pTOtectiou  of 
the  Pope,  and  to  hold  his  kingdom  as  a  fief  of  the  church 
of  Rome             -             -             -             -             -       337 
1 2 1 5  The  English  barons  have  recourse  to  arms,  and  extort  from 
him  Magna  Chart  a,  or  the  Great  Charter         -         340 
Privileges  secured  by  that  Charter             -             -      ibid. 

LETTER  XXXI. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Depende7:cies-,  Rome  and  the 
Italian  States^  from  the  Accession  of  Henry  VI.  to  the  Elec- 
tion of  Roclulph  of  Hapsburg^  Founder  of  the  House  of  Au- 
stria., luith  a  continuation  of  tlie  History  of  the  Crusades. 

1190  Frederick  Barbarossa  is  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne 

by  his  son  Hemy  VI.        .  -  .  342 

1191  Henry  attempts  to  make  himself  master  of  the  kingdom  of 

Sicily ;  to  which  he  was  heir  in  right  of  his  wife  Con- 
stantia,  but  which  had  been  seized  by  Tancred  her  na- 
tural brother  .  -  -  -  343 
Obliged  to  relinquish  the  enterprize         -              -        ibid. 

1192  Incorporates  the  Teutonic  Knights  into  a  regular  order  ib. 
Account   of  the   origin  of  those  Knights,  and  also  of  the 

Knights  Templars,  and  Knights  Hospitalers  ibid. 

1194  The  Emperor  makes  new  preparations  for  the  conquest  of 
Sicily,  and  accomplishes  his  purpose  on  the  death  of 
Tancred  -  -  -  -  -       344 

His  atrocious  cruelty  and  perfidy  to  the  Sicilians  345 

1196  Attempts  to  render  the  imperial  crown  hereditary  in  his 
family  -----  346 

Countenances  a  new  crusade  -  -  347 

Three  German  armies  raised  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy- 
Land  -----  ibid. 
Henry  severely  punishes  a  revolt  of  the  Sicilians        ibid. 

Rendered 


CONTENTS. 

Rendered  desperate  they  again  revolt:  the  Empress  Con- 
stantia  heads  them;  and  Henry  havhig  dismissed  his 
troops,  is  obliged  to  submit  to  his  wile,  and  to  the  con- 
dition she  is  pleased  to  impose  upon  him  in  favour  of  her 
countrymen  .  .  -  -  347 

Death  and  character  of  Henry  VI.         -  -  ibid. 

Distracted  state  of  the  empire  during  the  minority  of  his  son 
Frederick  H.  -  -  -  -  ibid. 

1203  NeAV  crusade  under  Baldwin  count  of  Flanders  ibid. 

1204  The  champions  of  the  cross  make  themselves  masters  of 

the   Christian  city   of  Constantinople,  which  they  pil- 
lage .....  348 
Baldwin  gets  himself  elected  Emperor  of  the  East       349 
Yhe  A'enelians  and  the  marquis  de  Montferret  share  with 
him  the  provinces  of  the  Greek  empire              -        ibid. 
The  troubles  of  Germany  continue              -              -     ibid. 

1214  Frederick  H.  assumes  the  reins  of  government,  and  com- 

mands implicit  obedience  -  -  -      351 

1216  He  encourages  a  new  crusade  -  -  352 

1-17  Two  great  armies  raised  under  various  leaders  553 

1219  Progress  of  the  adventurers  -  -  -         354 

Their  misfortunes  -  .  -  .       ibid. 

Obliged  to  conclude  a  dishonourable  peace  with  Meleden, 

soldan  of  Egypt  and  Syria  -  -  ibid. 

1228  The  Emperor  embarks  for  the  Holy  Land  -  357 

1229  Obliges  the  soldan  to  cede  Jerusalem  and  its  territory  to 

the  Christians  ....         ibid. 

The  subsequent  part  of  Frederick's   reign  one  continued 

C[uarrel  with  the  Popes        ...  ibid. 

After  his  death  the  afi'airs  of  Germany  fall  into  the  utmost 

confusion  -  -  -  -  -     361 

Origin  of  the  Hanseatic  league  -  -  362 

LETTER  XXXII. 

England.)  from  the  Granting  the  Great  Charter  to  t/ie  Reign 
of  Edward  I. 

1215  The  Pope  absolves  king  John  from  the  oath  whicli  he  had 

taken  to  observe  the  Great  Charter  -  -    363 

John  ravages  the  whole  country,  from  Dover  to  Berwick, 

with  an  army  of  Braban^ons  -  -  ibid. 

The  barons  dreading  the  total  loss  of  their  liberties,  their 

lives  and  their  possessions,  offer  the  English  crown  to 

Lewis,  eldest  son  to  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France  364 

1316  Lewis  lands  in  England  ...  ibid. 

Disgusts  the  people  by  his  partiality  to  his  countrymen  365 

Death  and  character  of  John  -  -  ibid. 

The  principal  barons  agree  to  acknowledge  the  authority 

•f  his  son  Henry  HL  .  -  .  366 

Lewis 


CONTENTS. 
A.  15.  iPage 

1217  Lewis  obliged  to  evacuate  the  kingdom  -         ibid- 

The  young  king  offends  the  English  nation  by  his  profuse 
bounty  to  foreign  favourites  -  56t 

1242  Loses  what  remained  to  him  of  Poitou  -  368 

1255  The  Pope  flatters  Henry  with  the  conquest  of  Sicily,  and 
drains  England  of  immense  sums  under  that  and  other 
pretences  _  -  -  -  369 

The  barons  demand  an  extension  of  their  priveleges  371 
1258  Headed  by  the  earl  of  Leicester,  they  extort  from  the 
king  the  Provisions  of  Oxford  -  272 

They  abuse  their  authority  -  -  ibid. 

1263  A  civil  war  .  _  .  373 

IS 64  The  king  and  prince  Edward  made  prisoners  ibid. 

Tyrannical  government  of  Leicester  -  374 

He  summons  a  new  parliament,  into  which  the  represen- 
tatives of  boroughs  are  admitted  -  ibid. 
Reflections  on  that  innovation             -             -  ibid. 
J365  Prince  Edward  makes  his  escape  from  prison,  and  heads 
the  Royalists                  -             -                 -  375 
Leicester  slain,  and  his  army  routed              -             ibid. 
The  king  restored                -                 -             -             37S 
His  clemency                   -             -                 -                 ibid. 

1270  Prince   Edward  undertakes  an   expedition  to  the  Holy 

Land,  where  he  signalizes  himself  by  many  gallant 
exploits  -  _  -  -  ibid. 

1271  Death  and  character  of  Henry  in.  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XXXIIL 

France^  from  the  Reign  of  Philip  Augustus  to  the  end  of  the 

Reign  of  Lewis  IX.  commonly  called  St.  Lewis,  with  some 

account  of  the  last  crusade. 

1223  Death  of  Philip  Augustus  -  -  277 

Short  reign  of  his  son,  Lewis  VHL  -  ibid. 

Character  of  Lewis  IX.  -  ibid. 

His  humanity  and  generosity  -  -         378 

His  superstition  -  -  -  ibid. 

1241   He  makes  a  vow  to  engage  in  a  new  crusade  379 

1248  Sets  sail  for  the  relief  of  the  Holy  Land,  accompanied  by 

his  queen  and  almost  all  the  knights  of  France     ibid. 
State  of  the  East  in  those  times  -  -         ibid. 

Conquests  of  Genghiz-Kan  and  his  descendants  426 

1249  Lewis  lands  near  the  city  of  Damietta  in  Egypt,  at  the 

head  of  sixty  thousand  men  -  -  331 

1250  That  place  is  abandoned  to  him,  but  afterwards  besieged, 

and  restored  in  consequence  of  the  diseases  in    his 

army  -  _  .  -  ibid. 

1211  Lewis  visits  Palestine,  where  he  continues  four  years, 

without  effecting  any  thing  of  moment  -         ibid. 

VOL.  I.  ir  Disorders 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

Disorders  in  France  durins^  his  absence  -         ibid. 

1258  lie  reUirns  and   makes  many  wise  regulations  for  the 

government  of  his  kingdom  -  382 

1264  Is  appointed  arbiter  between  the  king  of  England  anci  his 

rebellious  barons  .'  _  -  283 

1268  Plis  brother  establishes  himself  on  the  throne  of  Sicily  384 
1 27 1   Lewis  IX.  heads  a  new  army  against  the  Infidels,  and  dies 

on  the  coast  of  Africa.  -  -  ibid. 

His  son  Phihp,  surnamed  the  Hardy,  saves  the  remains 

of  the  French  army  -  -  -  385 

LETTER  XXXIV. 

Spain,  from  the  Jlliddle  of  the  Eleventh  to  the  End  of  the 
Thirteenth  Century, 
1037  Rise  of  the  kingdom  of  Castile  -  -  385 

Spain  divided  into  many  kingdoms  at  that  time  386 

Origin  of  Knights  Errant  -  -  ibid. 

Famous  exploits  of  Don  Koderigo,  surnamed  the  Cid  ibid. 
1084  Memorable  siege  of  Toledo  -  -  387 

1QS5  Dispute  coi'cerning  the  Roman  and  Musarabic  liturgies  ib. 
'1  he  Cid  conquers  Valencia  from  the  Moors  ibid. 

1134  Grandeur  of  Alphonso  \'IL  king  of  Castile  388 

1 147  Alphonso  Henriquez,  count  of  Portugal,  obtains  from  his 
foilovv'crs  the  till"  of  King  -  -  389 

1179  His  legal  dignity  confirmed  by  the  see  of  Rome        ibid. 
1211   The    M'ramolin   of   Afiica    undertakes    an    expedition 
against  the  Chriblians  in  Spain,  assisted  by  the  Moors 
in  that  country  .  _  .  390 

The  Christian  princes  unite,  from  the  sense  of  a  common 
danger  .  -  .  -  ibid. 

Battle  of  hierra  Morena  -  -  ibid. 

T212  The  Moois  v.inquished  after  nn  obstinate  dispute       ibid. 
1236  Ferdinand  111.  king  of  Castile,  conquers  Cordova,  the 
seat  ofthe  first  I^.ioorish  kings  -  -         391 

1238  The  Inficit  Is  are  also  driven  outof  the  island  of  Majorca  ib. 
And  dispossessed  of  the  kingdoms  ot  Murcia  and  Va- 
lencia _  -  .  -  -         ibid. 
Ferdinand  til.  takes  from  them  the  opulent  city  of  Se- 
ville            -             ..              ...  ibid. 
1283  Alphonso,  surnamed  the  Astronomer,  invites  over  the  Mi- 
raniolin  to  protect  him  against  his  rebellious  sons  ibid. 
1303  Ferdinand  IV.  makes  himself  master  of  Gibraltar       392 

LETTER  XXXV. 

Progress  of  Socielj  in  Europe^  duriiig  the  Twelfth  and  Thir- 
teenth  Centuries, 
Beneficial  effects  of  the  Crusades  -  -         393 

Rise  of  Commerce  .  ,  -  ibid. 

Freedom 


CONTENTS. 

A.  9.  Page 

Freedom  of  Cities  »  -  -  394 

Corporation  Charters  granted  -  -  395 

Their  happy  consequences         -  -  -         396 

The  commons  obtain  a  place  in  the  national  assemblies  ib. 
Enfranchisement  of  the  villains,  or  slaves  employed  in 
husbandry  ....  ibid. 

Abolition  of  trials  by  ordeal,  and  by  duel  -  397" 

Suppression  of  the  practice  of  private  wslv  -         398 

Revival  of  the  study  of  the  civil  law  -  399 

Universities  founded  .  -  -  400 

Academical  titles  and  honours  invented  -         ibid. 

The  first  studies,  though  ill-directed,   rouse  the  human 
mind  _  .  .  -  -         ibid. 

Barbarism  gradually  disappears  with  ignorance  401 

LETTER  XXXVI. 

England^  during  the  R^ign  of  Edward  I.  ivith  an  introduction 

to  the  History  of  Scotland ;  some  Account  of  the  Conquest  of 

that  country   by  the  English,  and  the  fnal  Reduction  of 

Wales. 

1274  Return  of  Edward  I.  from  the  Holy  Land  -         402 

His  wise  policy  _  .  _  _         ibid* 

1276  He  undertakes  an  expedition  against  Lewellyn  prince  of 

North  Wales,  and  obliges  liim  to  submit  ibid. 

The  Welsh  revolt,  and  are  again  subdued         -  40:i 

1283  The  laws  of  England  established  in  the  principality  of 

Wales  .  -  -  -  -         ibid. 

Retrospective  view  of  the  history  of  Scotland  401 

1286  Edward  revives  a  claim  of  feudal  superiority  over  that 

kingdom         -----         405 

Disputed  succession  to  the  Scottish  crown  ibid. 

Edward  chosen  umpire  of  the  dispute  between  Bruce  and 

Baliol,  the  two  competitors  -  -  40S 

1291  Scotland  acknowledged  by  both  to  be  a  fief  of  the  Eng- 

lish monarchy.  -  _  -  ibid. 

1292  Edward  gives  judgment  in  favour  of  Baliol  ibid. 
Baliol  enters  into  a  secret  alliance  witl^  France  407" 

1295  True  sera  of  the  English  House  of  Commons  ibid. 
Its  beneficial  influence  upon  the  constitution              ibid. 

1296  Edward  cites  Baliol  as  his  vassal  to  appear  in  the  Eng- 

lish parliament  -  -  -  -         40s 

Baliol  refuses  compliance  .  -  -         ibid. 

Edward  enters  Scotland,  and  subdues  the  whole  country  409 
Baliol  carried  prisoner  to  London,  and  comm.itted  to  the 

Tower  -----         ibid. 

Edward  attempts  the  recovery  of  Guienne,  which  Philip 

the  Fair  had  ordered  to  be  confiscated  as  a  fief  of 

France  -  -  -  -  -         4I(,> 

Obtains 


CONTENTS. 

A.  B.  Page 

12^7  Obtains  large  supplies  from  his  parliament,  and  confirms 

the  Great  Charter  with  an  additional  clause  411 

Guienne  restored  to  Ena-land  -  -  413 

The  Scots  rebel         .  _  -  .  ibid. 

Character  and  heroic  exploits  of  William  Wallace  ibid. 

He  defeats  the  English  army  near  Stirling,  and  expels 

the  invaders  of  his  country  -  -  413 

1298  Edward  again  enters  Scotland  with  a  great  army,  and 

subdues  the  southern  provinces  -  -         414 

1305  Wallace  treacherously  delivered  up  to  him,  and  executed 

as  a  rebel  -  -  -  -  415 

Character  of  Robert  Bruce         -  -  -         416 

He  encourages  his  countrymen  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of 

England  -  -  -  -  -         417 

1306  The  English  forces  driven  out  of  Scotland         -  418 
Bruce  defeated  by  Amor  de  Valence,  the  general  of  Ed- 
ward          _              .             -             _             -              ibid. 

1307  Edward  I.  dies  at  Carlisle,  in  advancing  to  complete  the 

recovery  of  Scotland  .  -  -  ibid. 

His  high  character  as  a  legislator  -  419 

He  regulated  the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  courts,  and 

acquired  the  title  of  the  English  Justinian  ibid. 

LETTER  XXXVII. 

England,  during  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  with  an  Accoimt  of 
the  Affairs  of  Scotland. 
1307   Edward  II.  relinquishes  the7projected  reduction  of  Scot- 
land, after  a  few  feeble  efforts  -  -         420 
Disgusts  the  English  by  his  profuse  liberality  to  Piers 
Gaveston,  a  foreign  favourite           »             -  421 
1S08  A  confederacy  formed  against  Gavcston             -  421 
He  is  banished             -                      .                      _         ibid. 
But  recalled,  and  beheaded,  in  consequence  of  a  new  re- 
volt                     ....         422 
Edward  resolves  to  subdue  the  Scots         -         -         ibid. 
Makes  great  preparations  for  that  purpose         -         ibid. 
1514  Enters  Scotland  at  the  head  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men             -                     _                 .                 _         ibid. 
Battle  of  Bannockburn             -                     -  423 
The  English  defeated  with  great  slaughter         -         424 
1315  The  Scots  ravage  the  northern  counties  of  England  and 
invade  Irelana                      -                      -                     425 
Bruce  established  on  the  throne  of  Scotland         -        ibid. 
The  English  barons  insult  the  fallen  fortunes  of  Edward  ib. 
His  attachment  to  Hugh  le  Despencer,  a  new  favourite^ 
furnishes  them  with  a  pretext  for  rebellion       -         426 
1*21   The  favourite  and  his  father  banished             -             ibid. 
Recalled,  and  the  rebellious  barons  humbled         -      427 

The 


CONTENTS. 

A,  D,  P^f^C 

1322  The  earl  of  Lancaster  and  about  twenty  other  noblemen 

condemned  and  executed  -  -  ibid. 

The  rapacity  of  the  younger  Spencer  -  ibid. 

1323  Edward  concludes  a  truce  with  Scotland  -         ibid. 

1324  Isabella,  his  queen,  enters  into  a  conspiracy  against  him 

Avith  Roger  Mortimer,  her  gallant,  and  other  dissatis- 
fied barons  -  .  _  428 
1326  The  two  Spencers  condemned  and  executed         -       429 
1337  The  king  accused  of  incapacity  for  government  and  de- 
posed                -                  -                     -                      ibid. 
Inhumanly  murdered                    -                 -  430 

LETTER  XXXVIII. 

The  German  empire  and  its  dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Ita- 
lian States,  from  the  election  of  Rodolph  of  Hapsburgh  to 
the  Death  of  Henry  VII. 
1273  Rodolph  Count  of  Hapsburgh  invested  with  the  impcrid 
ensigns  after  an  interregnum  of  twenty-three  years  431 
He  corrects  the  disorders  in  Germany  -  432 

1275  Rebellion  of  Ottocarus,  king  of  Bohemia  -         ibid. 

1276  He  is  compelled  to  submit  -  -  453 

1277  Again  rebels,  and  is  slain  in  battle  -  -  ibid. 
Rodolph  settles  the  afl&irs  of  Italy              -  -      ibid. 

1282  Establishes  the  grandeur  of  his  family  in  Austria       ibid. 

1291  His  death  and  character  -  -  -  43i 

1292  Adolphus  of  Nassau  elected  emperor  -  ibid. 
1267  He  is  deposed             _             .             -              -  ibid. 

Albert  duke  of  Austria  is  raised  to  the  Imperial  throne  ib. 
And  Albert  kills  his  competitor  Adolphus  in  battle  435 
The  Jews  persecuted  with  great  rigour  in  Germany  456 

1208   The  rise  of  the  republic  of  Switzerland  -  437 

Remarkable  circumstances  with  which  it  was  attended  43$ 

The  emperor  Albert  slain  by  his  nephew,  when  ready  to 

march  against  the  Swiss  -  -  4/10 

1 309  The  Count  of  Luxembourg  elected  emperor,  under  the 
name  of  Henry  VII.  -  -  -  ibid. 

IS  10  He  resolves  to  establish  the  Imperial  authority  in  Italy  441 
State  of  that  country  -  -  -  44  i 

1811   The  emperor  there  compels  universal  submission        443 

1313  Dies  at  Benevento  -  -  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XXXIX. 

Irance,  from  the  death  of  Lewis  IX.  till  the  Accession  of  the 

House  of  Valuis. 

1270  Accession  of  Philip  III.  to  the  crown  of  France  444, 

1282  Account  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  -  -         445 

12S4  Philip  III.  at  the  instigation  of  the  Pope,  undertakes  the 

conquest  of  the  kino;dom  of  Arraaon  -  4i!» 

Fails 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

iSSS  Fails  in  that  enterprize,  and  dies  at  Perpignan  447" 

The  tirst  French  monarch  who  granted  letters  of  nobi- 
lity .  .  -  .  -  ibid. 
Accession  of  Philip  IV.  surnamed  the  fair           -         448 
He  institutes  the  supreme  tribunals  called  Parliaments  449 
1303  His  quarrel  with  the  See  of  Rome                   -  ibid 
Orders  the  Pope's  Bull  to  be  thrown  into  the  fire       ibid. 
1310  Persecutes  the  Knights  Templars                 -  451 
1312  Suppression  of  that  order,  and  the  cruel  circumstances 
that  accompanied  it              -              -              -              452 
J314  Philip  IV.  succeeded  by  his  son  Lewis  X.         -  454 

1316  Violent  dispute  in  regard  to  the  succession,  on  the  death 

of  Lewis  -         -  -  -  -  ibid. 

1317  The  States  of  the  kingdom,  by  a  solemn  decree,  declare 

all  Females  incapable  of  succeeding  to  the  crown  of 
France  -  -  -  455 

1328  Philip  de  Valois,  in  consequence  of  that  decree,  is  unani- 
mously raised  to  the  throne  -  -  456 

LETTER  XL. 

England,  Scotland^  France,  and  Spain,  during  the   Reign   of 
Edtvard  III. 
1327  Tyrannical  government  of  Queen  Isabella  and  Mortimer 
iier  gallant  -  _  .  455 

1330  Mortimer  seized  by  order  of  young  Edward,  and  perishes 

by  ttie  hands  of  the  hangman  -  -  457 

Edward  III.  assumes  the  reins  of  government  ibid. 

1331  He  makes  provision  for  the  impartial  administration  of 

justice  -  _  _  ibid. 

Secretly  encourages  Edward  Baiiol  in  his  claim  upon  the 

crown  of  Scotland  -  -  458 

1332  Baiiol  makes  himself  master  of  that  kingdom  459 

1333  Is  expelled,  and  takes  refuge  in  England  -  ibid. 
Edward  agrees  to  reinstate  him.  on  his  admitting  the  su- 
periority of  England,  and  defeats  the  Scots  with  great 
slaughter  at  Halidovvn  Hill            ...         ibid. 

Baiiol  is   acknowledged   by  a  parliament,  assembled  at 
Edinburgh  _  _  -  450 

The  Scots  again  revolt  from  Baiiol,  and  return  to  their 
allegiance  under  David  Bruce,  the  son  of  the  great  Ro- 
bert -  -  -  -  ibid. 
1335  Edward,  a  second  and  third  time,  marches   into   their 
country,  and  obliges  them  to  take  refuge  in  their  hills 
and  fastnesses                        -              -              -  461 
He  lays  claim  to  the  crown  of  France             -  462 
1337   Is  flattered  in  his  pretensions  by  Robert  ofArtois     ibid. 
The  kings  of  Finance  and  England  form  alliances  on  the 
Continent                 .                 .                 ^                 ibid. 

State 


CONTENTS. 
A.  D.  Page 

Stale  of  the  Flemings  -  -  -  162 

1338  They  favour  the  cause  of  Edward  -  463 

1S40  The  English  gain  an  important  advantage  over  the  French 

by  sea  .  .  _  455 

Heroic  character  of  Jane,  Countess  ofMountford  466 
1342  Her  gallant  defence  of  Hennebone  -  ibid. 

1346  Edward  invades  France  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 

men  -  -  -  467 

Philip  de  Valois  advances  against  him  at  the  head  of  an 

hundred  thousand  men  -  -  ibid. 

Famous  passage  of  the  Somme  -  ibid. 

Battle  of  Cressy  [Aug.  26.]  -  -  469 

The  French  defeated  with  great  slaughter  -         ibid. 

Reflections  on  the  invention  of  fire-arms  -         ibid. 

David  Bruce,  King  of  Scotland,  invades  England  470 
He  is  defeated  and  made  prisoner  by  an  English  army, 

under  Queen  Philippa  and  Lord  Percy  [Oct.  17.]   ibid. 

1347  Calais  taken  by  Edward  -  -  471 
1548  He  concludes  a  truce  with  France,  and  returns  in  tri- 
umph to  England              _             .             .                 ibid. 

1350  Institutes  the  order  of  the  Garter  -  ibid, 

A  dreadful  pestilence  in  England  -  472 

Death  of  Philip  de  Valois  -  -  ibid. 

Character  of  King  John,  his  son  and  successor  473 

Dangerous  intrigues  of  Charles,  King  of  Navarre         ibid. 

1356  Edward   Prince  of  Wales,  commonly  called   the  Black 

Prince,  invades  France  on  the  expiration  of  the  truce  474 
Battle  of  Poictiers  [Sept.  19.]  -  -  ibid. 

Prince  of  Wales  defeats  the  French  and  takes  their  king- 
prisoner  -  -  -  ibid. 
Flis  generous  treatment  of  the  captive  monarch         ibid. 

1357  He  concludes  a  truce  for  two  years,  and  returns  to  Eng- 

land -  -  -  -  475 

1358  Distracted  State  of  France  -  -  476 
The  nobility  and  gentry  exposed  to  the  barbarity  of  the 

common  people  -  -  477 

These  disorders  suppressed  by  the  Dauphin  473 

ld59  Edward  HI.  againinvades  France  -  ibid. 

1360  Concludes  an  advantageous  peace  with  his  prisoner.  King 

John,  who  obtains  his  liberty  -  iliid. 

1363  John,  unable  to  fulnl  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  honourably 

returns  to  his  confinement  in  England  -         479 

1364  His  death  -    -  -  -  ibid. 
Fie  is  succeeded   in  the  throne  of  France   by  his  son, 

Charles  V.  -  -.  -  ibid. 

Wise  policy  of  Charles  -  -  ibid. 

1365  His  general,  Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  defeats  the  King  of 

Navarre,  and  order  is  reiitorcd  to  France         -         4S0 

3.iiserabls 


CONTENTS. 
A.  ».  Page 

Miserable  state  of  Spain  under  Peter  I.  -         481 

1366  Peter  dethroned    by   his   brother  Henry,  assisted  by  a 

French  army  under  du  Guesclin  -  ibid. 

1 367  Restored  by  an  EngUsh  army  under  the  Black  Prince  482 
His  ingratitude  to  his  benefactor  -  ibid. 

1368  Heis  slain  by  his  brother  Henry  -  483 
1370  111  health  of  the  Black  Prince                    -                      484 

The  English   are   stript  of  most  of  their  conquests   in 

France  -  -  -  ibid. 

1  S7«  Death  of  the  Black  Prince  -  -  ibid. 

1377  Of  King- Edward  HI.  -  -  485 

1380  Of  Charles  V.  of  France  -  ibid. 

LETTER  XLL' 

The  German  empire  and  its  dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Itali- 
an States,  from  the  election  of  Lewis   of  Bavaria  to  the 
Death  ef  Charles  IV. 
1313  Death  of  Henry  Vn.  followed  by  an  interregnum         485 
Italy  and  Germany  desolated  by  civil  wars  -         ibid. 

1519  The  battle  of  Muldorff  -  -  ibid. 

1522  Lewis  V.  undisputed  emperor  -  -  487 

1324  The  Pope  declares  his  election  void  -  ibid. 

1328  He  marches  into  Italy,  and  deposes  John  XXII.  488 
1338  Establishes  a  constitution,  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
Princes  both  Ecclesiastical  and  Secular,  by  which  it  was 
irrevocably  fixed,  "  That  the  plurality  of  the  Suffrages 
"  of  the  electoral  College  confers  the  Empire,  without 
"  the  consentof  the  Holy  See."  -  490 

Germany  enjoys  the  blessings  of  peace  -         ibid. 

1347  Lewis  V.  succeeded  in  the  Imperial  throne  by  the  Duke 

of  Luxembourg,  imder  the  name  of  Charles  IV'.     491 
Nicholas  Reinai,  an  ambitious  demagogue,  excites  disor- 
ders in  Rome  -  -  -  ibid. 
Story  of  Joan  Queen  of  Naples                       -  492 

1348  Lewis  king  of  Hungary,  her  husband's  brother,  accuses 

her  of  the  murder  of  that  prince  -  ibid. 

She  is  acquitted  by  the  Pope  -  -  493 

1355  The  Emperor,  Charles  IV.  having  settled  the  affairs  of 

Germany,  is  crowned  at  Rome  -  494 

1356  He  fixes  the  number  of  electors,  by  the  famous  constitu- 

tion, called  the  Golden  Bull  -  -  49S 

Style  of  that  celebrated  charter  -  -  ibid. 

Pump  with   which  the  publication  of   it  was  accompa- 
nied -  -  -  ibid. 
The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  IV.  distinguished 
by  no  memorable  event                  -                  -  496 
1378  His  death                     -                 -                 -                 ibid. 


THE  HISTORY 


OF 


MODERN  EUROPE. 


PART  I. 

TROM  THE  RISE  OF  THE  MODERN  KINGDOMS  TO 
THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA,  IN  1648. 


LETTER  J, 


DECLINE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE,  AND    THE 
SETTLEBIENT   OF    THE     BARBARIANS. 

X  OU  have  already,  rtxy  dear  Philip,  finished, 
your  course  of  Ancient  History,  under  your  preceptor  : 
in  the  elements  of  Modern  History,  I  myself  will  under- 
take to  instruct  you.  The  establishment  of  the  present 
European  nations;  the  origin  of  our  laws,  manners, 
and  customs  ;  the  progress  of  society,  of  arts,  and  of  let- 
ters, demand  your  pai'ticular  attention,  and  were  ill 
committed  to  the  disquisitions  of  a  mere  scholar. 

Europe  is  the  theatre  on  which  the  human  character 
has  appeared  to  most  advantage,  and  where  society  has 
attained  its  most  perfect  form,  both  in  ancient  and  mod- 
ern times;    its  history  will,  therefore,  furnish  us  witli 

VOL   I,  F  every 


2  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part.  t. 

every  thing  worthy  of  observation  in  the  study  of  men, 
or  of  kingdoms.  I  shall,  however,  tut-n  your  eye  occasion- 
ally on  the  other  parts  of  the  globe,  that  you  may  have  a 
general  idea,  at  least,  of  the  state  of  the  universe.  But 
before  I  proceed  to  the  history  of  Modern  Europe,  it  will 
be  proper  to  say  a  few  words  concerning  its  ancient  in- 
habitants, and  its  situation  at  the  settlement  of  the  present 
nations. 

The  inhabitants  of  ancient  Europe  may  be  divided  in- 
to three  classes,  Greeks,  Romans,  and  Barbarians;  or 
those  nations  the  two  former  were  pleased  to  call  so,  be- 
cause less  civilized  than  they.  With  the  Greek  and  Roman 
storv  you  are  well  acquainted.  I  shall,  therefore,  only 
remind  you.  That  the  Greeks,  the  most  polished  people 
of  antiquity,  inhabited  the  maritime  parts  of  the  country 
now  known  by  the  name  of  European  Turkey;  that,  when 
corrupted,  they  were  conquered  by  the  Romans  ;  and 
that,  after  the  conquest  of  Greece,  the  Romans  turned 
their  arms  against  the  Barbarians  or  northern  nations, 
the  Gauls,  the  Britons,  the  Germans,  whom  they  also  in 
a  great  measure  subdued,  by  their  superiority  in  the  art 
of  war,  but  not  with  the  same  facility  they  had  overcome 
the  voluptuous  nations  of  Asia.  A  single  battle  did  not  de- 
cide the  fate  of  a  kingdom.  Those  brave  and  indepen- 
dent people,  though  often  defeated,  resumed  their  arms 
with  fresh  valour,  and  defended  their  possessions  and  their 
liberties  with  obstinate  courage.  But  after  a  variety  of 
struggles,  in  which  many  of  them  perished  in  the  field,  and 
many  were  carried  into  slavery,  a  miserable  remnant  sub- 
mitted to  the  Romans  ;  while  others  fled  to  their  moun- 
tains for  freedom,  or  took  refuge  in  the  inaccessible  cor- 
ners of  the  north.  There,  defended  by  lakes  and  rivers, 
the  indignant  barbarians  lived,  until  time  had  ripened  the 
seeds  of  destruction.  Then  rushing  forth,  like  an  impetu- 
ous flood,  and   sweeping  every  thing  before  them,  they 

overturned  the  vast  fabric  of  the  Roman  em- 
A,  D.  476.    .         ,  111  If  ..  1  • 

pire,  the  work  and  the  wonder  ot  ages,  taking 

yengeance  on  the  mvirderers  of  mankind;  established  on 

its 


LET.  I.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  3 

its  ruins  new  governments  and  new  manners,  and  accom- 
plished the  most  signal  revolution  in  the  history  of  nations  . 

Here  we  must  make  a  pause,  in  order  to  consider  the 
jnoral  and  political  causes  of  that  great  event,  and  its  in- 
fluence on  the  state  of  society. 

As  soon  as  the  Romans  had  subdued  the  north  of  Eu- 
rope, they  set  themselves  to  civilize  it.  They  transfei*red 
into  the  conquered  countries  their  laws,  manners,  arts,  sci- 
ences, language,  and  literature.  And  some  have  thought 
these  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  loss  of  liberty  and 
independency.  But  you,  my  dear  Philip,  will  judge  very 
differently,  I  hope,  whatever  veneration  you  may  have  for 
the  Roman  name. 

Good  laws  are  essential  to  good  government,  arts  ancj 
sciences  to  the  prosperity  of  a  nation,  and  learning  and 
politeness  to  the  perfection  of  the  human  character.  But 
these,  in  order  to  exalt  a  people,  must  be  the  result  of 
the  natural  progress  of  civilization,  not  of  any  adventi- 
tious ferment  or  violence  from  abroad.  The  fruits  of 
summer  are  ripened  in  winter  by  art;  but  the  course  of 
the  seasons  is  necessary  to  give  them  their  proper  flavour, 
their  proper  size,  or  their  proper  taste.  The  spontane- 
ous produce  of  the  forest^  though  somewhat  harsh,  is 
preferable  to  what  is  raised  by  such  forced  culture;  and 
the  native  dignity,  the  native  manners,  and  rude  virtues 
ot  the  barbarian,  are  superior  to  all  that  can  be  taught 
the  slave.  When  mankind  are  obliged  to  look  up  to  a 
master  for  honour  and  consequence,  to  flatter  his  foibles, 
and  to  fear  his  frown,  cunning  takes  place  of  wisdom, 
and  treachery  of  fortitude  ;  the  mind  loses  its  vigour, 
the  heart  its  generosity,  and  man,  in  being  polished,  is 
only  debased. 

1.  It  was  long  fashionable  with  modern  writers,  but  especially  those 
of  a  classical  turn,  to  rail  against  their  rude  ancestors,  and  lament  the  fall 
of  the  Roman  empire  as  a  great  misfortune  to  the  human  race.  This  mis. 
take  seems  to  have  arisen  from  an  admiration  of  ancient  literature,  and 
an  imperfect  knowledge  of  history;  from  not  sufficiently  distinguishing 
between  the  extinction  of  Roman  libsrtj-,  and  thedastruction  of  Roman 
•lespotism. 

This 


4  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

This  truth  was  never,  perhaps,  more  strikingly  exem- 
plified than  in  the  history  of  the  Roman  empire.      The 
degrading  influence  of  its  dominion,  more  than  any  other 
circumstance,  hastened  its  final  dissolution  ,-   for  although 
the  conquered  nations  were  by  that  means  more   easily 
kept  in  subjection,  they  became  unable  to  resist  a  foreign 
enemy,   and   might  be   considered  as  decayed  members 
of  the   body  politic,  which  increased  its  size  without  in- 
creasing its  strength.      An  appearance  of  prosperity,  in- 
deed, succeeded  to  the  havoc  of  war;   the   ruined  cities 
were  rebuilt,  and  new  ones  founded;   population  flourish- 
ed; civilization  advanced;   the  arts  were  cultivated;   but 
the  martial  and  independent  spirit  of  the*  people  of  the  nor- 
thern provinces  was  so  totally  extinct  in  a  few  centuries, 
that  instead  of  preferring  death  to  slavery,  like  so  many 
of  their  illustrious  ancestors,  they  patiently  submitted  to 
any  contribution  which  a  rapacious  governor  was  pleased 
to  levy.      And  the  descendants  of  those  gallant  warriors 
who  had  disputed  the  field  with  the  Roman  legions  under 
Csesar  and  Germanicus,  were  unable  to  oppose  the  most 
desultory  inroads  of  a  troop  of  undisciplined  barbarians. 
They  were  become  incapable  of  either  thinking  or  acting 
for  themselves.     Hence  all  the  countries,  which  had  been 
subjected  to  the  Roman  yoke,  fell  a  prey  to  the  first  inva- 
der, after  the  imperial  forces  were  withdrawn. 

Many  other  causes  contributed  to  the  dissolution  of  the 
Roman  empire,  beside  the  debility  occasioned  byits  un- 
wieldy corpulence. 

Rome  owed  her  dominion  as  much  to  the  manners  as 
to  the  arms  of  her  citizens\  Their  dignity  of  sentiment; 
their  loveof  liberty  and  of  their  country;  their  passion  for 

2.  "  Think  not,"  said  the  elder  Cato,  to  the  Roman  senate,  "  it  was 
"  merely  by  force  of  arms  that  our  forefathers  raised  this  republic  from  % 
t'  low  condition  to  its  present  gi-eatness  ;....no!  but  by  things  of  a  very 

"  different  nature industry  and  discipline  at  home,  abstinence  and 

"  justice  abroad,  a  disinterested  spirit  in  council,  unblindedby  passion, 
'•  and  unbiassed  by  pleasure."     Sallust.  £elL  Catilin. 

*     glory  J 


LET.  I.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  5 

glory;  their  perseverance  in  toils;  their  contempt  of  dan- 
ger and  of  death;  their  obedience  to  the  laws;  and  above 
all,  their  civil  constitution  and  military  discipline,  had 
extended  and  cemented  the  conquests  of  the  Roman?. 
The  very  usurpations  of  that  sovereign  people  (for  I  speak 
of  the  times  of  the  republic)  were  covered  with  a  certain 
majesty,  which  made  even  tyranny  respectable.  But 
their  government  carried  in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  de- 
struction. The  continual  jealousy  between  the  patricians 
and  plebeians,  the  senate  and  the  people,  without  any 
balancing  power,  made  the  ruin  of  the  republic  inevitable, 
as  soon  as  the  manners  were  relaxed;  and  a  relaxation  of 
manners  was  necessarily  produced,  by  the  pillage  of 
Greece  and  the  conquest  of  Asia';  by  the  contagious 
refinements  of  the  one,  and  the  influx  of  wealth  from  the 
other. 

The  fall  of  Carthage,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Gauls 
out  of  Italy,  though  seemingly  the  two  most  fortunate 
events  in  the  Roman  history,  contributed  also  to  a  change 
of  manners,  and  to  the  extinction  of  Roman  liberty. 
While  Carthage  subsisted,  the  attention  of  all  parties  was 
carried  toward  that  rival  state;  to  defend  themselves  or 
annoy  their  enemies,  was  the  only  care  of  the  Romans: 
and  as  long  as  the  Gauls  had  possessions  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Rome,  her  citizens  were  united  by  the  sense 
of  a  common  danger  ;  but  no  sooner  were  their  fears 
from  abroad  removed,  than  the  people  grew  altogether 
ungovernable.  Ambitious  men  took  advantage  of  their 
licentiousness;  party  clashed  with  party.  A  master 
became  necessary,  in  order  to  terminate  the  horrors  of 
civil  war,  as  well  as  to  give  union  and  vigour  to  the  state. 
Interest  and  vanity  made  coui^tiers;  force  or  fear,  slaves. 
The  people  were  disarmed  by  the  jealousy  of  despotism, 

o.  It  v/as  in  the  delicious  climate  and  pleasurable  groves  of  Asia,  says 
Sallust,  that  the  army  of  the  Roman  people  first  learned  to  abandon  them" 
selves  to  wine  and  women — to  admire  pictures,  statues,  and  vases  of  cuii" 
ous  workmanship — and  to  spare  nothing  civil  or  sacred  to  come  at  th<^ 
possession  of  them.  Bell  Caiilin. 

and 


6  THE   HISTORY  OF  [pakt.  i. 

and  corrupted  by  the  example  of  an  abandoned  court. 
Effeminacy,  debauchery,  profligacy,  and  every  atrocious 
vice,  was  common  upon  the  throne. 

A  new  source  of  ruin  disclosed  itself.  Some  disputed 
successions  having  made  the  army  sensible  that  the  sove- 
reignty was  in  their  hands,  they  thenceforth  sold  it  to 
the  highest  bidder.  Sporting  with  the  lives  of  their 
princes,  as  formerly  with  the  laws  of  the  republic,  they 
created  emperors  only  to  extort  money  from  them,  and 
afterwards  massacred  them,  in  order  to  extort  like  sums 
from  their  successors.  Emperors  were  opposed  to 
emperors,  and  armies  disputed  the  pretensions  of  armies. 
With  obedience  discipline  was  lost.  Wise  princes 
endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to  restore  it:  their  zeal  to 
maintain  the  ancient  military  regulations  only  exposed 
them  to  the  fury  of  the  solldery;  the  very  name  of 
discipline  was  a  signal  for  revolt.  The  armies  of  Rome 
did  not  now  consist  of  free  men,  who  had  voluntarily 
chosen  a  military  life:  or  who,  in  obedience  to  the  laws, 
served  for  a  term  of  years,  but  of  mercenaries  collected 
from  the  provinces,  or  barbarians  bribed  into  the  service, 
as  more  able  to  undergo  the  fatigues  of  war.  Her  soldiers 
were  no  longer  citizens  armed  in  defence  of  their  country, 
they  were  its  oppressors;  they  were  licensed  robbers, 
insatiable  of  plunder. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  continual  treasons  of  the  sol- 
diery, especially  the  Pretorian  bands,  the  emperors 
associated  with  themselves  in  the  supreme  power,  their 
sons,  their  brothers,  or  such  persons  as  they  could  trust; 
and  every  emperor  elected  a  Csesar,  or  successor.  They 
likewise  subdivided,  and  consequently  diminished,  the 
power  of  the  Pretorian  prefects,  who  were  the  grand 
viziers  of  their  time,  appointing  four  instead  of  two.  By 
these  means  the  imperial  seat  was  rendered  more  secure: 
the  emperors  were  permitted  to  die  in  their  beds ;  man- 
ners were  softened,  and  less  blood  was  shed  by  ferocity; 
but  the  state  was  wasted  by  an  enormous  expense,  and 
anew  species  of  oppression  took  place,  no  less  disgrace- 
ful 


LIT.  I.]  MODERN  EURO^^E.  7 

ful  to  humanity  than  the  former  massacresL  The 
tyranny  was  transferred  from  the  soldiery  to  the  prince: 
the  cause  and  the  mode  was  changed,  but  the  effect  was 
the  same.  Shut  up  within  the  walls  of  a  palace,  sur- 
rounded by  flatterers  and  women,  and  sunk  in  the  softness 
of  Eastern  luxury,  those  masters  of  empire  governed  in 
secret  by  the  dark  and  subtle  artifices  of  despotism. 
Iniquitous  judgments,  under  the  form  of  justice,  seemed 
only  to  set  death  at  a  distance,  in  order  to  make  life 
more  miserable,  and  existence  more  precarious.  No- 
thing was  said,  all  was  insinuated:  every  man  of  prime 
reputation  was  accused;  and  the  warrior  and  the  politi- 
cian daily  saw  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  sycophants, 
who  had  neither  ability  to  serve  the  state  themselves, 
nor  genei'osity  to  suffer  others  to  serve  it  with  honour'^. 
The  removal  of  the  imperial  court  to  Constantinople, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  subsequent  division  of  the  empire 
into  Eastern  and  Western,  was  a  new  blow  to  the  gran- 
deur of  Rome,  and  likewise  to  its  security:  for  the  veteran 
legions,  that  guarded  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the 
Rhine,  were  also  removed  to  the  East,  in  order  to  guard 
another  frontier;  and  Italy,  robbed  of  its  wealth  and  inha- 
bitants, sunk  into  a  state  of  the  most  annihilating  languor. 
Changed  into  a  garden  by  an  Asiatic  pomp,  and  crowded 
with  villas,  now  deserted  by  their  voluptuous  owners, 
this  once  fertile  country  was  unable  to  maintain  itself; 
and  when  the  crops  of  Sicily  and  Africa  failed,  the  peo- 
ple breathed  nothing  but  sedition. 

These  discontents,  occasioned  by  the  removal  of  the 
imperial  court,  were  heightened  by  those  of  religion, 
Christianity  had  long  been  making  progress  in  the  empire, 
it  now  ascended  to  the  throne  of  the  Ca;sars.  As  the 
Christians  had  formerly  been  persecuted,  they,  in  their 
turn,  became  persecutors.  The  Gods  of  Rome  were 
publickly  insulted,  their  statues  were  broken,  their  vota- 

4.  Montesq.  Considerat.  stir  ies  Causes  de  la  Grandeur  drs  domains,  et 
de  leur  Dccad.  chap.  xv.  xvi.  xvii.  and  the  authors  there  cited,  but  especi- 
ally Tacitus,  Ammianus,  Marcellinus  and  Zosimus. 

Ties 


*  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  I. 

ries  were  harassed.  Penal  statutes  were  enacted  against 
the  ancient  worship:  the  punishment  of  death  was  de- 
nounced against  the  sacrifices  formerly  ordained  bylaw; 
the  altar  of  Victory  was  overturned,  the  Cross  was 
exalted  in  its  stead,  and  displayed  in  place  of  that  trium- 
phant eagle,  under  which  tiie  world  had  been  conquered^. 
The  most  dreadful  hates  and  animosities  arose.  The 
Pagans  accused  the  Christians  of  all  their  misfortunes; 
they  rejoiced  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  calamities,  a? 
if  the  Gods  had  been  come  in  person  to  take  vengeance 
on  the  destroyers  of  their  altars;  while  the  Christians 
affirmed  that  the  remains  of  Paganism  alone  had  drawn 
down  the  wrath  of  Omnipotence.  Both  parties  were 
more  occupied  about  their  religious  disputes  than  the 
common  safety;  and,  to  complete  the  miseries  of  this 
unhappy  people,  the  Christians  became  divided  among 
themselves.  New  sects  sprung  up;  new  disputes  took 
plac  e  ;  new  jealousies  and  antipathies  raged;  and  the  same 
pmiishments  were  denounced  against  Heretics  and  Pagans. 
An  universal  bigotry  debased  the  minds  of  men.  In  a 
grand  assembly  of  the  provinces,  it  was  proposed.  That, 
as  there  are  three  persons  in  the  Trinity,  they  ought  to 
have  three  emperors.  Sieges  were  raised,  and  cities 
lost,  for  the  sake  of  a  bit  of  rotten  wood,  or  withered 
bone,  which  was  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  some  saint 
or  martyr.  The  eifeminacy  of  the  age  mingled  itself 
with   this  infatuation;    and    generals,    more    Aveak    than 

5.  Four  respectable  deputations  v.'ere  successively  voted  to  the  imperial 
court,  representing  the  grievances  of  the  priesthood  and  the  senate,  and 
soliciting  the  restoration  of  the  altar  of  Victory.The  conduct  of  this  im- 
portant business  was  entrusted  to  Symmachus,  a  noble  and  eloquent  orator, 
who  thus  makes  Rome  herself  plead,  before  the  imperial  tribunal,  in  favour 
of  the  ancient  worship;  "  These  rites  have  repelled  Hannibal  from  the 
"  city,  and  the  Gauls  from  the  capitol.  Wei-e  my  grey  hairs  reserved  for 
«'  such  intolerable  disgrace  ?  I  am  ignorant  of  the  new  system  that  1  am 
"  i-equired  to  adopt;  but  I  am  well  assured,  that  the  correction  of  old 
"  age  is  always  an  ungrateful  and  ignominious  ofiice."  Symmach.  lib.  x. 
epist.  54. 

humane, 


LET.  I.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  9 

humane,  sat  down  to  mourn  the  calamities  of  war,  when 
they  should  intrepidly  have  led  on  their  troops  to  battle'^. 

The  character  of  the  people  with  whom  the  Ro- 
mans had  to  contend,  was,  in  all  respects,  the  reverse 
of  their  own.  Those  northern  adventurers,  or  barba- 
rians, as  they  were  called,  breathed  nothing  but  war. 
Their  martial  spirit  was  yet  in  its  vigour.  They  sought  a 
milder  climate,  and  lands  more  fertile  than  their  forests 
and  mountains:  the  sword  was  their  right;  and  they  ex- 
ercised it  without  remorse,  as  the  right  of  nature.  Bar- 
barous they  surely  were,  but  they  were  superior  to  the 
people  they  invaded,  in  virtue  as  well  as  in  valour.  Sim- 
ple and  severe  in  their  manners,  they  were  unacquainted 
with  the  name  of  luxury;  any  thing  was  sufficient  for 
their  extreme  frugality.  Hardcaed  by  exercise  and  toil, 
their  bodies  seemed  inaccessible  to  disease  or  pain;  war 
was  their  element;  they  sported  with  danger,  and  met 
death  with  expressions  of  joy.  Though  free  and  inde- 
pendent, they  were  firmly  attached  to  their  leaders;  be- 
cause they  followed  them  from  choice,  not  from  con- 
straint, the  most  gallant  being  always  dignified  with  the 
command.  Nor  were  these  their  only  virtues.  They 
were  remarkable  for  their  regard  to  the  sanctity  of  the 
marriage  bed;  their  generous  hospitality,  their  detesta- 
tion of  treachery  and  falsehood.  They  possessed  many 
maxims  of  civil  wisdom,  and  wanted  only  the  culture  of 
reason  to  conduct  them  to  the  true  principles  of  social 
life^ 

What  could  the  divided,  effeminate,  and  nowdastardly 
Romans,  oppose  to  such  a  people?  Nothing  but  fear  and 
folly;   or,    vv^hat  was  still  more    ignominious,  treachery. 

6.  Montesq.  Considerat.  &e.  chap,  xviii — xxii.  See  also  Gibbon's  Hist, 
of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ronyan  Empire,  vol  ili — vi,  and  the  auihoi-s 
there  quoted. 

7.  Tacit,  (le  Morihiu  Germ.  Priscus,  Excerpt,  ds  Legat.  Jornandes,  de 
Eeb.  Get.  "  As  in  polished  societies,"  saya  Ammiaiuis  Marcellinus, 
speaking  of  the  Huns,  "  ease  and  tranquillity  arc  courted,  they  delight  in 
war  and  dangers.  He  who  falls  in  battle  is  reckoned  happy  ;  vvhil  they, 
who  die  of  old  age  or  disease,  are  held  infamous."  IJitt.  lib.  xxxi. 

VOL.    I.  G  SooK 


10  THE  HISTORY  OF  [i^AH-r  i. 

Soon  convinced  that  the  combat  was  unequal,  they  attempt- 
ed to  appease  their  invaders  by  money:  but  that  peace 
could  not  be  of  long  continuance,  which  put  those  who 
sold  it  in  a  better  condition  to  sell  another.      Force  is 
seldom  just.  These  voluntary  contributions  were  changed 
into  a  tribute,  which  was  demanded  as  a  right;   and  war 
was  denounced  when  it  was  refused,   or  fell  short  of  the 
customary  sum.    Tributes  were  multiplied  upon  tributes, 
till  the   empire   was   drained   of  its  treasure.      Another 
expedient  was  then  fallen  upon:  large  bodies  of  the  barba- 
rians were  taken  into  pay,  and  opposed  to  other  barba- 
rians.    This  mode  of  defence,  so  contrary  to  the  practice 
of  the  first  Romans,   answered  for  the  moment,  but  ter- 
minated   in    ruin:    those  auxiliaries    proved    the    most 
dangerous  enemies  to  the  empire.      Already  acquainted 
with  the  Roman  luxuries,    the  Roman  wealth,    and  the 
Roman  weakness,  they  turned  their  arms   against  their 
masters,  inviting  their  countrymen  to  come  and  share 
with  them  in  the  spoils  of  a  people  unworthy  of  so  many 
accommodations.  They  were  likewise  become  acquainted 
with  what  little   military  skill  yet  remained   among  the 
Romans;   and  that,  superadded  to  their  natural  intrepi- 
dity,  made   them  perfectly  irresistible.     A  third   expe- 
dient,  yet  more  unworthy  of  the  Roman  name,  was  had 
recourse  to:. ...assassination  was  employed  by  the  empe- 
rors against  those  princes,  or  leaders,  whose  arms  they 
feared  ;  it  was  even  concealed  beneath  the  mask  of  friend- 
ship,  and  perpetrated  under  the  roof  of  hospitality!   in 
the  convivial  hour,   and  at  the  festive  board*^. 

This  diabolical  practice,  the  want  of  faith,  and  other 
unmanly  vices  of  the  Romans,  not  only  account  for  the 
total  subversion  of  their  empire,  but  also  for  many  of 
the  cruelties  of  the  conquerors.  Inflamed  with  the  pas- 
sion of  revenge,  no  less  than  the  thirst  of  conquest  or 
the  lust  of  plunder,  the  inflexible  and  high  spirited, 
though  naturally  generous  barbarians,  were  equally  deaf 
to   the    offers    of  treaty  and    the    voice    of  supplication. 

8.  Mon'esquieu  and  Gibbon,  ubi  siip. 

Wherever 


LET.  I.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  11 

Wherever  they  marched,  their  route  was  marked  with 
blood.  The  most  fertile  and  populous  provinces  were 
converted  into  deserts.  Italy,  and  Rome  itstilf  was  often 
pillaged.  New  invaders,  from  regions  more  remote  and 
barbarous,  drove  out  or  exterminated  the  former  settlers  ; 
and  Europe  was  successively  laid  waste,  till  the  North, 
by  pouring  forth  its  myriads,  was  drained  of  people, 
and  the  sword  of  slaughter  tired  of  destroying. 

In  less  than  an  hundred  years  after  the  first  northern 
invasion,  scarce  any  remains  of  the  laws,  manners,  arts, 
or  literature  of  the  Romans  were  left  in  our  quarter  of 
the  globe.  By  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  the 
Visigoths  had  possessed  themselves  of  Spain;  the  Franks 
of  Gaul;  the  Saxons  of  the  Roman  provinces  in  South 
Britain;  the  Huns  of  Pannonia;  the  Ostrogoths  of  Italy, 
and  the  adjacent  provinces.  New  governments,  laws, 
languages;  new  manners,  customs,  dresses,  new  names 
of  men  and  of  countries  every  where  prevailed.  A  total 
change  took  place  in  the  state  of  Europe'. 

How  far  this  change  ought  to  be  lamented,  is  not  now 
a  matter  of  much  dispute.  The  human  species  was  re- 
duced to  such  a  degree  of  debasement  by  the  pressure 
of  Roman  despotism,  that  we  can  hardly  be  sorry  at  any 
means,  however  violent,  which  removed  or  lightened  the 
load.  But  we  cannot  help  lamenting,  at  the  same  time, 
that  this  revolution  v/as  the  work  of  nations  so  little 
enlightened  by  science  or  polished  by  civilization:  for 
the  Roman  laws,  though  somewhat  corrupted,  were  yet 
in  general  the  best  that  human  v/isdom  had  framed;  and 
the  Roman  arts  and  literature,  though  much  declined, 

9.  A  similar  change  was  soon  to  take  place  in  the  state  of  Asia,  great 
part  of  which  was  st'll  subject  to  the  emperors  of  Coastarttinop'e.  These 
emperors,  though  gradually  robbed  of  their  Asiatic  provinces  by  the 
followers  of  Mahomet,  continued  to  preserve,  in  the  East,  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  see,  an  image  of  Roman  greatness,  long  after  Rome  had 
been  sacked  by  the  barbarians,  and  the  Roman  dominion  finally  extin- 
guished in  the  V/est.  The  Roman  provinces  in  Africa  were  already  cver- 
vttii  by  the  Vandal»,  who  had  spread  desolation  with  fir«  arvd  sv;ord. 

were 


18  THE   HISTORY  OF  [paut  i. 

were  still  superior  to  any  thing  found  among  rude  na- 
tions, or  which  those  who  spurned  them  produced  for 
many  ages. 

The  contempt  of  the  barbarians  for  the  Roman  im- 
provements is  not  wholly,  however,  to  be  ascribed  to 
their  ignorance,  nor  the  suddenness  of  the  revolution  to 
their  desolating  fury  ;  the  manners  of  the  conquered  must 
come  in  for  a  share.  Had  the  Romans  not  been  in  the 
lowest  state  of  national  degeneracy,  they  might  surely  have 
civilized  their  conquerors;  had  they  retained  any  of  the 
virtues  of  men  among  them,  they  might  have  continued 
under  the  government  of  their  own  laws.  Many  of  the 
northern  leaders  were  endowed  with  great  abilities,  and 
several  of  them  were  acquainted  both  with  the  policy  and 
literature  of  the  Romans;  but  they  were  justly  afraid  of 
the  contagious  influence  of  Roman  example ;  and  there- 
fore avoided  every  thing  allied  to  that  name,  whether 
hurtful  or  otherwise".  They  erected  a  cottage  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  a  palace,  breaking  down  the  stately 
building,  and  burying  in  its  ruins  the  finest  works  of 
human  ingenuity;  they  ate  out  of  vessels  of  wood,  and 
made  the  vanquished  be  served  in  vessels  of  silver;  they 
hunted  the  boar  on  the  voluptuous  parterre,  the  trim 
garden,  and  expensive  pleasure-ground,  where  effemi- 
'  nacy  was  wont  to  saunter,  or  indolence  to  loll;  and  they 
pastured  their  herds,  where  they  might  have  raised  a 
luxuriant  harvest.  They  prohibited  their  children  the 
knowledge  of  literature,  and  of  all  the  elegant  arts;  be- 
cause they  concluded,  from  the  dastardliness  of  the  Ro- 
mans, that  learning  tends  to  enervate  the  mind,  and  that 
he  who  has  trembled  under  the  rod  of  a  pedagogue  will 
never  dare  to  meet  a  sword  with  an  undaunted  eye". 

10.  "  When  we  would  brand  an  enemy,"  says  an  enlightened  bai-ba- 
riun,  "  with  disgraceful  and  contumelious  appellations,  we  call  him  a 
Roman;  a  name  which  comprehends  whatever  is  base,  cowardly,  avari- 
cious, luxurious.. ..in a  word,  lyin^,  and  all  other  vices."  Luitprand,  Le- 
gal, ap.  Murat.  vol.  ii. 

11.  Procop.  Bell.  Goth.  lib.  i. 

Upon 


I.ET.  I.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  13 

Upon  the  same  principles  they  rejected  the  Roman  juris- 
prudence. It  reserved  nothing  to  the  vengeance  of  man: 
they  therefore,  not  unphilosophically,  thought  it  must  rob 
him  of  his  active  powers.  Nor  could  they  conceive 
how  the  person  injured  could  rest  satisfied,  but  by 
pouring  out  his  fury  upon  the  author  of  the  injustice. 
Hence  all  those  judicial  combats,  and  private  wars  which 
for  many  ages  desolated  Europe. 

In  what  manner  light  arose  out  of  this  darkness,  order 
out  of  this  confusion,  and  taste  out  of  this  barbarism,  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  observe  in  the  course  of  history: 
how  genius  and  magnificence  display  themselves  in  a  new 
mode,  which  prevailed  for  a  time,  and  was  exploded; 
how  the  sons  came  to  idolize  that  literature  which  their 
fathers  had  proscribed,  and  wept  over  the  ruins,  of  those 
sculptures,  paintings,  and  buildings,  which  they  could  not 
restore;  digging  from  dunghills,  and  the  dust  of  ages  the 
models  of  their  future  imitations,  and  enervating  them- 
selves with  the  same  arts  which  had  enervated  the  Ro- 
mans. 

In  the  meantime  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  system 
of  policy  and  legislation  established  by  the  barbarians  on 
their  first  settlement. 


LETTER 


U  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 


LETTER  II. 


THE  SYSTEM  OF  POLICY  AND  LEGISLATIO^f  ESTABLISHED  BY 
THE  BARBARIANS,  ON  SETTLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES  OF 
THE    ROMAN     EMPIRE. 


jL  he  ancient  Gauls,  the  Britons,  the  Germans, 
the  Scandinavians,  and  all  the  nations  of  the  north  of 
Europe,  had  a  certain  degree  of  conformity  in  their  go- 
vernment, manners,  and  opinions.  The  same  leading 
character,  and  the  same  degree  of  conformity  was  also 
observ-able  among  their  more  modern  descendants,  who, 
under  the  names  of  Goths  and  Vandals,  dismembered  the 
Roman  empire.  Alike  distinguished  by  a  love  of  war 
and  of  liberty,  by  a  persuasion  that  force  only  constitutes 
right,  and  that  victory  is  an  infallible  proof  of  justice, 
they  were  equall)'  bold  in  attacking  their  enemies,  and  in 
resisting  the  absolute  domination  of  any  one  man.  They 
were  free  even  in  a  state  of  submission.  Their  primitive 
government  was  a  kind  of  military  democracy,  under  a 
general  or  chieftain,  who  had  commonly  the  title  of  king. 
Matters  of  little  consequence  were  determined  by  the 
principal  men,  but  the  whole  community  assembled  to 
deliberate  on  national  objects.  The  authority  of  their 
kings  or  generals,  who  owed  their  eminence  entirely  to 
their  military  talents,  and  held  it  by  no  other  claim,  was 
extremely  limited:  it  consisted  rather  in  the  privilege  of 
advising,  than  in  the  power  of  commanding.  Every  in- 
dividual was  at  liberty  to  chuse  whether  he  would  engage 
in  any  warlike  enterprise.  They  therefore  followed  the 
chieftain  who  led  them  forth  in  quest  of  new  settlements 
from  inclination,  not  controul';  as  volunteers  who  offered 
to  accompany  him,  not  as  soldiers  whom  he  could  order 
to  march.    They  considered  their  conquests  as  common 

1.  Carsar.  </f  Bell.  Gall.  lib.  vi.     Tacit,  de  Moribus  German,   cap.  xi — 
Jtlvj.  Amra.  Marcel,  lib.  xxxi.  Pris.  Ehet.  ap.  Byzz.  Script,  vol.  i. 

property, 


LET.  II.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  IS 

property,  in  which  all  had  a  right  to  share,  as  all  had  con- 
tributed to  acquire  them;  nor  was  any  obligation  what- 
soever entailed  on  the  possessor  of  lands  thus  obtained. 
Every  one  was  the  lord  of  his  own  little  territory. 

But  after  settling  in  the  Roman  provinces,  M'here  they 
had  their  acquisitions  to  maintain  not  only  against  the  an- 
cient inhabitants,  but  also  against  the  inroads  of  new  in- 
vaders, the  northern  conquerors  saw  the  necessity  of  a 
closer  union,  and  of  relinquishing  some  of  their  private 
rights  for  public  safety.  They  continued  therefore  to  ac- 
knowledge the  general  who  had  led  them  to  victory:  he 
was  considered  as  the  head  of  the  colony  ;  he  had  the 
largest  share  of  the  conquered  lands  ;  and  every  free 
man,  or  every  subordinate  officer  and  soldier,  upon  re- 
ceiving a  share,  according  to  his  military  rank,  tacitly 
bound  himself  to  appear  against  the  enemies  of  the 
community'. 

This  new  division  of  property,  and  the  obligations 
consequent  upon  it,  gave  rise  to  a  species  of  government 
formerly  unknown,  and  which  is  commonly  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  the  feudal  systkm.  The  idea  of  a  feudal 
kingdom  was  borrowed  from  that  of  a  military  establish- 
ment. The  victorious  army,  cantoned  out  in  the  coun- 
try which  it  had  seized,  continued  arranged  under  its 
proper  officers,  who  were  ordered  to  hold  tlieniselves  in 
readiness  to  assemble  whenever  occasion  should  require 
their  united  operations  or  counsels. 

But  that  system  of  policy,  apparently  so  well  calcula- 
ted for  national  defence  or  conquest,  and  which  prevailed 
for  several  centuries  in  almost  every  kingdom  of  Europe, 
did  not  sufficiently  provide  for  the  interior  order  and  tran- 
quillity of  the  state.  The  bond  of  political  union  was  fee- 
ble; the  sources  of  dissention  were  many;  and  corruption 
was  interwoven  with  the  very  frame  of  the  constitution. 
The  partial  division  of  the  conquered  lands,  which  were 

2.  Du  Cange,  G!oss.  voc.  Miles  e'  Alcdie. 

chiefly 


16  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

chiefly  swallowed  up  by  the  great  officers,  gave  the  few  a 
dangerous  ascendency  over  the  many.  The  king  or  gene- 
nil,  by  his  superior  allotment,  had  it  amply  in  his  power  to 
reward  past  services  or  attach  new  followers,  for  the  pur-? 
pose  of  future  wars.  With  this  view  he  parcelled  out  his 
lands;  binding  those,  on  whom  he  bestowed  them,  to  attend 
him  in  all  his  military  enterprises,  under  the  penaltyof  for- 
feiture. The  nobles,  or  great  officers,  followed  his  exam- 
ple, annexing  the  same  conditions  to  their  benefices  or 
grants  of  land,  and  appearing  at  the  head  of  their  numerous 
vassals,  like  so  many  independent  princes,  whenever 
their  pride  was  v/ounded  or  their  property  injured.  They 
disputed  the  claims  of  the  sovereign;  they  withdrew  their 
attendance,  or  turned  their  arms  against  him^  A  strong 
barrier  was  thus  formed  against  a  general  despotism 
in  the  state ;  but  the  nobles  themselves,  by  means  of 
their  wavlike  retainers,  were  the  tyrants  of  every  infe- 
rior district,  holding  the  people  in  servitude,  and  prevent- 
ing any  regular  administration  of  justice,  every  one  claim- 
ing that  prerogative  within  his  own  domain.  Nor  was 
this  the  only  privilege  those  haughty  nobles  usurped;  they 
also  extorted  from  the  crown  the  right  of  coining  money 
in  their  own  name,  and  of  carrying  on  war  against  their 
private  enemies^. 

In  consequence  of  these  encroachments  on  the  royal 
prerogative,  the  powerful  vassals  of  the  crown  obtained 
grants  during  life,  and  afterwards  others  including  their 
heirs,  of  such  lands  as  they  had  originally  held  only  dur- 
ing pleasure.  And  they  appropriated  to  themselves  titles 
of  honour,  as  well  as  offices  of  power  and  of  trust, 
which  became  hereditary  in  many  families.  The  ties 
which  connected  the  principal  members  of  the  constitution 
with  its  head  were  dissolved;  almost  all  ideas  of  politi- 
cal subjection  were  lost,  and  little  appearance  of  feudal 
subordination  remained.     The  nobility  openly  aspired  at 

5.  Montesquieu,  UEspritdea  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  xxxi. 
4.  Montesquieu,  uhi  supra.  Robiertson,  Inlrod.   L'ist.  Charles  V.  Hume, 
Hist.  Er-.g.  Append,   ii. 

independency: 


LET.  II.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  17 

independency:  they  scorned  to  consider  themselves  as 
subjects;  and  a  kingdom,  considerable  In  name  and  ex- 
tent, was  often  a  mere  shadow  of  monarchy,  and  really 
consisted  of  as  many  sparate  principalities  as  It  contained 
baronies.  A  thousand  feuds  and  jealousies  subsisted 
among  the  barons,  and  gave  rise  to  as  many  wars^. 
Hence  every  country  in  Europe,  wasted  or  kept  in  con- 
tinual alarm  by  these  internal  hostilities,  was  filled  with 
castles  ?.nd  places  of  strength,  in  order  to  protect  the  in- 
habitants from  the  fury  of  their  fellow-subjects. 

Kingdoms  so  divided,  and  torn  by  domestic  broils, 
were  little  capable  of  any  foreign  effort.  The  wars  of 
Europe,  therefore  during  several  centuries,  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  see,  resembled  more  the  wild  and  desul- 
tory incursions  of  pirates,  or  banditti,  than  the  regular 
and  concerted  operations  of  national  force.  Happily, 
however,  for  posterity,  the  state  of  every  kingdom  was 
nearly  the  same ;  otherwise  all  must  have  fallen  a  prey 
to  one:  the  independent  spirit  of  the  North  might  have 
been  extinguished  forever;  and  the  present  harmonious 
system  of  European  policy,  which  so  gloriously  struggled 
from  the  chaos  of  anarchy,  would  have  sunk  in  eternal 
night. 

The  particular  manner  in  which  the  barbarians,  or 
northern  invaders,  conducted  their  judicial  proceedings, 
when  they  first  settled  in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman 
empire,  cannot  now  be  distinctly  ascertained:  but  their 
form  of  government,  their  manners,  and  a  variety  of 
other  circumstances,  lead  us  to  believe  it  was  nearly  the 
same  with  that  which  prevailed  in  their  original  countries; 
where  the  authority  of  the  magistrate  was  so  limited, 
and  the  independency  of  individuals  so  great,  that  they 
seldom  admitted  any  umpire  but  the  sword". 

Our  most  ancient  historical  records  justify  this  opin- 
ion: they  represent  the  exercise  of  justice  in  all  the  king- 
doms of  Europe,   and  the  ideas  of  men  with  respect  to 

5.  Id.  ibid.      6.  Ferguson,  Essay  on  the  Hist,  of  Civil  Society,  part  ii, 
VOL.  I.  H  equity, 


18  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part   i. 

equity,  as  little  different  from  those  which  prevail  in  a 
state  of  nature,  and  deform  the  first  stages  of  society  in 
every  country.  Resentment  was  almost  the  sole  motive 
for  prosecuting  crimes;  and  the  gratification  of  that  pas- 
sion, more  than  any  View  to  the  prosperity  and  good 
order  of  society,  was  the  end,  and  also  the  rule  in  pun- 
ishing them.  He  that  suffered  the  -wrong,  was  the  only 
person  who  had  a  right  xo  pursue  the  aggressor;  to 
demand  or  remit  the  punishment: — and  he  might  accept 
of  a  compensation  for  any  offence  how  heinous  soever. 
The  prosecution  of  criminals  in  the  name,  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  community,  in  order  to  deter  others 
from  violating  the  laws,  now  justly  deemed  the  great 
object  of  legislation,  was  a  maxim  of  jurisprudence  then 
little  understood  in  theory,  and  still  less  regarded  in 
practice.  The  civil  and  criminal  judges  could,  in  most 
cases,  do  no  more  than  appoint  the  lists,  and  leave  the 
parties  to  decide  their  cause  by  the  sword.  Fierce  and 
haughty  nobles,  unused  to  the  restraints  of  law,  con- 
sidered it  as  infamous  to  give  up  to  another  the  right  of 
determining  what  reparation  they  should  accept  of,  or  with 
v/hat  vengeance  they  should  rest  satisfied:  they  scorned 
to  appeal  to  any  tribunal  but  their  own  right-arm.  And  if 
men  of  interior  condition  sometimes  submitted  to  av/ard 
or  arbitration,  it  was  only  to  that  of  the  leader  whose 
courage  they  respected,  and  whom  in  the  field  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  obey^  Hence  every  chieftain  became 
the  judge  of  his  tribe  in  peace,  as  well  as  its  general  in 
war. — The  pernicious  effects  of  this  power  upon  gevern- 
ment  and  upon  manners,  and  the  many  absurd  modes 
of  trial   established   before   its  abolition,  we  shall  have 


7,  This  subject  has  been  finely  illustrated  by  Dr.  Robertson,  (Introd. 
Hist.  Charles  V.)  and  by  the  president  Montesquieu,  (L'Esprit  des  Loix^ 
liv.  xviii. — xxxi.)  who  has  written  a  philosophical  commentary  on  the 
Lavss  of  the  Barbarians.  It  has  also  been  treated,  with  much  learning 
and  ingenuity,  by  Dr.  Stuart  in  his  F/cw  of  Society,  and  by  Mr.  Gibbon 
Ja  his  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  chap,  xxxviii. 

frequent 


LET.  III.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  19 

frequent    occasion    to   observe   in    the  history  of   eveiy 
modern  kingdom. 

The  feudal  system,  however,  with  all  its  imperfections, 
and  the  disorders  to  which  it  gave  birth,  was  by  no 
means  so  debasing  to  humanity  as  the  uniform  pressure 
of  Roman  despotism.  Very  different  from  that  dead 
calm  w^iich  accompanies  peaceful  slavery,  and  in  which 
every  faculty  of  the  soul  sinks  into  a  kind  of  somnolen- 
cy, it  kept  the  minds  of  men  in  continual  ferment,  and 
their  hearts  in  agitation.  If  animosities  were  keen, 
friendships  also  were  warm.  The  commonality  were 
unfortunately  degraded  to  the  condition  of  slaves,  but 
the  nobility  were  exalted  to  the  rank  of  princes.  The 
gentry  were  their  associates:  and  the  king,  without  the 
form  of  compact,  was  in  reality  but  chief  magistrate, 
or  head  of  the  community,  and  could  literally  do  no 
WRONG  J   or  none,  at  least,  Avith  impunity. 


LETTER  III. 


RISE     OF      THE     FRENCH     MONARCHY,     AND    THE     HISTORY     O.F 
FRANCE    UNDER    THE    KINGS    OF    THE    FIRST    RACE. 

i-N  history,  as  in  all  other  sciences,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  set  certain  limits  to  our  inquiries,  if  we  would 
proceed  with  certainty;  and,  where  utility  more  than 
curiosity  is  our  object,  we  must  even  contract  these 
boundaries.  We  must  not  only  confine  ourselves  to  those 
periods  where  truth  can  be  ascertained,  but  to  those 
events  chiefly  which  were  followed  by  some  civil  or 
political  consequence,  which  produced  some  alteration 
in  the  government  or  the  manners  of  a  people:  and,  even 
of  such  events,  we  should  be  more  particularly  attentive 
to  those  which  continue  to  operate  upon  our  present 
civil  or  political  system. 

In 


so  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

In  these  few  words,  my  dear  Philip,  in  order  to  avoid 
egotism,  I  have  indirectly  given  you  an  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  I  mean  to  conduct  that  History  of 
Modern  Europe^  which  is  intended  for  your  instruction. 
The  first  epochs  of  modern,  as  well  as  ancient  history, 
are  involved  in  fable;  and  the  transactions  of  the  imme- 
diately succeeding  periods  are  handed  down  to  us  in 
barren  chronicles,  v/hich  convey  no  idea  of  the  character 
of  the  agents,  and  consequently  are  destitute  alike  of 
instruction  and  amusement;  while  the  events  of  latter 
ages  are  related  with  a  copiousness  so  profuse  and 
undlstinguishing,  that  a  selection  becomes  absolutely 
necessary,  for  such  as  would  not  willingly  spend  a  life- 
time in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  transactions  of  those 
who  have  lived  before  them.  And  as  I  would  rather  have 
you  acquainted  with  the  character  of  one  living,  than  of 
ten  dead  statesmen  or  heroes,  I  shall  be  as  concise  in 
my  narration  as  is  consistent  with  perspicuity,  and  as 
select  in  my  matter  as  information  will  allow;  yet  always 
taking  care  to  omit  no  anecdote  which  can  throw  light 
on  the  history  of  the  human  heart,  nor  any  circumstance 
that  marks  the  progress  of  civil  society. 

Modern  history  is  of  little  importance  before  the 
time  of  Charlemagne;  and  a  late  celebrated  writer  has 
fixed  upon  the  coronation  of  that  prince  at  Rome,  in  the 
year  800,  as  the  proper  sera  of  its  commencement.  But, 
for  the  sake  of  order,  as  well  as  to  gratify  the  curiosity 
we  naturally  have  to  become  acquainted  with  the  origin 
of  nations,  I  shall  give  you  a  short  sketch  of  the  state  of 
modern  Europe  previous  to  that  sera. 

The  French  monarchy  first  claims  our  notice;  not  on 
account  of  its  antiquity  only,  but  because  of  its  early 
and  continued  consequence.  Gaul  was  shared  by  the 
Romans,  the  Visigoths,  and  the  Burgundians,  when 
.  Clovis  king  of  the  Franks,  (son  of  Childeric, 
and  grandson  of  Merovius,  head  of  the  Salian 
tribe)  defeated  Syagrius,  a  Roman  usurper  in  that  pro- 
vince, and  established  a  new  kingdom,  to  which  he  gave 

the 


LET.   III.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  21 

the  name  of  France,  or  the  Land  of  Free  Men  t»       HoW 
ill  applied  in  latter  times  ! 

Though  Clovis  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age  when 
he  obtained  this  victory,  his  prudence  appears  to  have 
been  equal  to  his  valour.  And  many  circumstances  con- 
spired to  his  farther  aggrandizement.  The  Gauls  hated 
the  dominion  of  the  Romans,  and  were  strongly  attach- 
ed to  Christianity:  Clovis  gained  on  their  piety,  by- 
favouring  their  bishops:  and  his  marriage  with  Clotilda,' 
niece  to  Gondebaud,  king  of  Burgundy,  made  them, 
hope  that  he  would  speedily  embrace  the  faith.  The 
attachment  of  his  countrymen  to  their  ancient  worship 
was  the  sole  objection:  the  pious  exhortations  of  the 
queen  had  some  effect;  and  the  king  having  vanquished 
the  Allemanni  at  Tolbiac,  near  Cologne,  after  an  obsti- 
nate engagement,  politically  ascribed  that  victory  to  the 
God  of  Clotilda,  whom  he  said  he  had  invoked  during  the 
time  of  battle,    under  promise  of  becoming  a    Christian, 

if  crowned    with   success.      He   was    accord-  .^- 

A.  D.  4'96. 
ingly    baptised    by    St.    Rernigius,    bishop    of 

Rheims,    and  almost  the  whole  French  nation  followed 

his  example^. 

This   was  a  grand  circumstance  in   favour  of  Clovis: 

and  he  did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  it.     The  Gauls 

were  staunch  Catholics,  but  the  Visigoths  and  Burgun- 

dians  were   Arians.     Clotilda,  however,  happily  was   a 

Catholic,  though  nursed  in  the  bosom  of  Arianism;  and 

1.  Gregor.  Turon.  lib.  ii.  cap.  27. 

2.  Gest.  Franc,  cap.  xv.  Greg.Turon.  lib.  ii.  cap.  SI.  Of  the  miracle, 
said  to  have  been  wrought  on  the  conversion  of  Clovis,  the  author  of 
tliis  work  says  nothing,  as  he  would  not  wish  to  foster  pious  credulity; 
but  the  lovers  of  the  marvellous  will  find  sufficient  food  for  their  passion 
in  Hincmar  (Vit.  St.  Rcmig.)  It  may  not,  hov/ever,  be  improper  to  ob- 
serve, that  Clovis,  when  warmed  with  the  eloquence  of  the  bishop  of 
Rheims,  in  describing  the  passion  and  death  of  Christ,  started  up,  and 
seizing  his  spear,  violently  exclaimed,  "Had  I  been  there  with  the  va- 
•' liant  Franks,  I  would  have,  redressed  his  \7rong3!"  Fredig.  Epitotn. 
cap.  xxi. 

Clovis 


2B  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Clovis  himself  overflowed  with  zeal  for  the  same  faith, 
as  soon  as  he  found  it  would  second  his  ambitious  views. 
Under  colour  of  religion,  he  made  war  vipon  Alaric, 
king  of  the  Visigoths,  who  possessed  the  country  be- 
tween  the  Rhone  and  the  Loire.  I'he  Gallic 
clergy  favoured  his  pretensions;  and  the  bat- 
tle of  Vouille,  in  which  the  king  of  the  Visigoths  was 
vanquished  and  slain,  near  Poictiers,  added  to  the  king- 
dom of  France  the  province  of  Aquitaine^. 

But  Clovis,  instead  of  enjoying  his  good  fortune  with 
dignitv,  disfigured  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  by  perfidies 
and  cruelties  toward  the  princes  of  his  house,  whom  he 
extirpated.  He  died  in  511,  after  attempting  to  atone 
for  his  crimes  by  building  and  endowing  ch'arches  and 
monasteries,  and  assembling  a  council  at  Orleans  for  the 
regulation  of  church-discipline"*, 

The  death  of  Clovis  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  gran- 
deur of  the  French  monarchv.     He  left  four 
A.  D.  511.  ,        J-    •  1    1    1  •  ■    •  1       •    • 

sons,   who    divided    his    extensive    dominions 

among  them.  Thierry,  the  eldest,  had  the  largest  share ; 
he  was  king  of  Austrasia,  or  that  part  of  the  Oriental 
France  which  lies  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse, 
Metz  was  his  capital.  Childebert  was  king  of  Paris, 
Clodimir  of  Orleans,  and  Clotaire  of  Soissons^  This 
division  of  the  empire  of  the  Franks,  into  four  indepen- 
dent kingdoms,  not  only  weakened  its  force,  but  gave 
rise  to  endless  broils.  The  brothers  became  enemies 
whenever  their  interests  jarred.  The  most  frightful  bar- 
barities were  the  consequence  of  their  dissensions.  Mur- 
ders and  assassinations  grew  common  events. 

The  experience  of  these  evils,  however,  did  not 
prevent  a  like  division  taking  place  after  the  death  of 
Clotaire,  the  sole  successor  of  his  brothers  and  nephews. 
His  four  sons  divided  the  four  kingdoms  by  lot*^.     The 

kingdom  of  Paris  fell  to  the  lot  of  Caribert; 

Soissons  to  Chilpevicj  Austrasia  to  Slgebert? 

5.  Greg.  Tiir.  lib.  ii.  cap.  37.        4.  Greg.  Tiiron.  lib.  ii.  cap.  40 — 43 
5.  Ibid.  lib.  cap.  ".      C.  Ibid.  lib.  iv.  cap.  22.  Gest.  Franc,  cap.  xxix. 

and 


LET.  I.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  ,23 

and  Orleans  to  Gontran,  in  whose  lot  also  was  included 
Burgundy,  which  had  been  conquered  by  the  united 
forces  of  Childebert  and  Clotaire.  This  new  division 
was  followed  by  consequences  still  more  fatal  than  the 
former.  Two  queens,  more  deserving  the  name  of  furies 
than  of  women,  sacrificed  every  thing  to  their  bloody 
ambition;  Brunechikla,  princess  of  Spain,  wife  to  Sige- 
bert,  king  of  Austrasia,  and  Fredegonda,  first  concubine 
and  afterward  wife  to  Chilperlc,  king  of  Soissons.  Their 
mutual  hatred,  conjoined  with  their  influence  over  their 
husbands,  was  productive  of  an  infinite  number  of  crimes, 
equally  ruinous  to  the  people  and  the  royal  family,  and 
the  most  enormous  to  be  met  with  in  the  history  of 
mankind. 

After  the  murder  of  a  multitude  of  princes,  and 
many  jears  of  civil  war,  carried  on  with  the  most  vin- 
dictive spirit,  and  accompanied  with  every  form  of  treach- 
ery and  cruelty,  Clotaire  II.  son  of  Chilperic  and  Fre- 
deoronda,   was  left  sole   monarch  of  France^. 

.  .    .  .  A    D.  61 3 

He  re-established  tranquillity,  and  gained  the 
hearts  of  his  people  by  his  justice  and  generosity:  and 
he  attached  the  nobility  to  him  by  augmenting  their  con- 
sequence. He  committed  the  government  of  the  pro- 
vinces of  Austrasia  and  Burgundy  to  the  Mayors  of  the 
palace,  as  they  were  called;  a  kind  of  viceroj^s,  who, 
daily  acquiring  power,  at  last  made  their  way  to  the 
throne. 

The  vices  of  Dagobert,  the  son  of  Clotaire  ;  the 
taxes  with  which  he  loaded  the  people,  to  furnish  his 
debauches,  or  to  atone  for  them,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  those  times,  by  piaus  profusions,  weakened  the 
royal  authorit}^  at  the  same  time  that  they  debased  it. 
His  two  sons,  Sigebert  II.  and  Clovis  II.  were  only  the 
founders  of  new  convents.  They  were  nobody  in  their 
kingdoms,   the  mayors  were  every  thing. 

On  the  death  of  Sigebert,  Grimoald,  mayor  of  Aus- 
trasia, set  his  own  son  upon  the  throne  of  that  kingdom. 

7.  Fredig.  Chivn.  cap.  xliii. 

The 


24  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The    usurper   was    deposed;  but   the   seducing  example 

^^^    remained  as  a  lure  to  future  ambition.      The 
A.  D.  656.  ,.  .  ,  1    . 

succeedmg  sovereigns  were  as  weak  as  their 

predecessors:  and    Pepin   Heristel,  duke    of   Austrasia, 

governed  France  twenty-eight  years,  under  the  title  of 

mayor,  with  equal  prudence  and  fortitude.     The  kings 

were  no  more  than  decorated  pageants,   to  be  shewn  to 

the   people  occasionally.     The  appellation   of  sluggards, 

which    was    given    them,    aptly    expresses   their    stupid 

inactivity. 

After  the  death  of  Pepin,  who,  by  restoring  national 

assemblies,  which   the    despotism  of  former 

*  mayors  had  abolished,  by  turning  the  restless 
impetuosity  of  the  French  against  foreign  enemies,  whom 
he  always  overcame,  and  other  wise  measures,  had  quietly- 
enjoyed  a  power  hitherto  unknown  in  the  monarchy;  his 
authority  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  widow  Plectrude, 
whose  grandson,  yet  an  infant,  was  created  mayor.  So 
high  was  the  veneration  of  the  French  for  the  memory 
of  that  great  man  ! — But  the  government  of  a  woman 
was  ill  suited  to  those  turbulent  times,  though  the  insig- 
nificant kings  were  content  to  live  under  the  guardianship 
of  a  child.  Charles  Mavtel,  natural  son  of  Pepin,  was 
suspected  of  ambitious  views  by  Plectrude,  and  imprison- 
ed. He  found  means,  however,  to  make  his  escape,  and 
was  received  by  the  Austrasians  as  their  deliverer.    His 

superior  talents  soon  exalted  him  to  the  same 
"*  degree  of  power  which  his  father  had  enjoyed, 
and  he  was  no  less  worthy  of  it.  He  saved  France  from 
the  sword  of  the  Saracens,  who  had  already  subjected 
Spain,  and  he  kept  all  the  neighbouring  nations  in  awe 
by  his  wise  and  vigorous  administration;  yet  he  never 

styled  himself  any  more  than  duke  of  France, 
*  conscious  that  the  title  of  kingcould  add  nothing 
to  his  power.  But  his  son  Pepin,  less  modest  or  more 
vain,  assumed  the  sovereignty  in  name  as  well  as  reality; 
excluding  forever  the  descendants  of  Clovis,  or  the  Me- 
rovingian race  from  the  throne  of  France^ 

8.  Adon.  Cbron.  Annul,  Metens. 

The 


LET.  IV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  25 

The  circumstances  of  that  revolution  I  shall  soon 
have  occasion  to  relate.  At  present  we  must  take  a  view 
of  th^  other  states  of  Europe. 


LETTER  IV. 


S'PAIK  UNDER   THE  DOMINipN  OF  THE  VISIGOTHS,  AND  UNDEft 
THE  MOORS,  TILL   THE  REIGN' OF    ABDURRAHMAN. 

oPAIN,  my  dear  Philip,  next  merits  your  at- 
tention as  the  second  great  kingdom  on  this  side  of  the 
Alps.  Soon  after  the  Visigoths  founded  their  monarchy 
in  that  Roman  province,  already  over-run  by  the 

.  AD     46/ 

Vandals  and  the  Suevi,  the  clergy  became  pos- 
sessed of  more  power  than  the  prince.  So  early  was  the 
tyranny  of  the  church  in  Spain  I  Almost  all  causes,  both 
civil  and  ecclesiastical,  were  referred  to  the  bench  of  bish- 
ops; they  even  decided  in  their  councils  the  most  weigh- 
ty affairs  of  the  nation.  Along  with  the  nobles,  among 
whom  they  held  the  first  rank,  they  often  disposed  of 
the  crown,  which  was  more  elective  than  hereditary'. 
The  kingdom  vv^as  one  theatre  of  revolutions  and  crimes. 
The  number  of  kings  assassinated  fills  the  soul  with  hor 
ror.  The  barbarians,  after  their  establishment,  contrac- 
ted new  vices:  their  ferocity  became  bloody,  WTiat 
crimes  did  no  bigotry  alone  produce  ! 

In  order  to  make  you  fully  sensible  of  this,  as  well 
as  acquainted  with  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  known  in 
the  history  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain,  I  need  only  mention 
the  principal  reigns. 

Leovigild,  who  died  in  585,  and  who  is  so  much  ce- 
lebrated for  his  victories  over  the  Suevi,  whom 
he  entirely  subdued,  put  to  death  his  son  Her- 
jnenegild,  because  he  had  embraced  the  Catholic  faith, 

1.  Geddes's  Tracts,  vol.  ii.  See  also  Savedv?,  Cq/oim  €^»rtAiea. 

VOL.  u  I  he 


^  THE  HISTORY  OF 

he  himself  being  an  Arian.  Recared,  however,  his  other 
son  and  successor,  abjured  Arianism.  The  Avians  were 
persecuted  in  their  turn.  The  spirit  of  persecution  dai- 
ly increased.  Sisebut,  a  prince  in  other  respects  wise, 
and  whose  valour  dispossessed  the  Greek  emperors  of 
what  territory  they  had  continued  to  hold  on  the  coasts 
of  the  Mediterranean  obliged  the  Jews,  on 
~*pain  of  death,  to  receive  baptism.  In  the 
reign  of  this  monarch  the  empire  of  the  Visigoths  was  at 
its  height  ;  comprehending  not  only  Spain,  but  also  some 
neighbouring  provinces  of  Gaul,  and  part  of  Mauritania. 
Chintila,  a  subsequent  king,  banished  all  the  Jews;  and  a 
council,  or  assembly  of  divines,  convokedduringhis  reign, 
declared  that  no  prince  could  ascend  the  Spanish  throne 
without  swearing  to  enforce  all  the  laws  enacted  against 
that  unfortunate  people.  Under  the  reign  of  Recesuint, 
the  election  of  kings  was  reserved  by  a  council  to  the 
bishops  and  palatines.  These  palatines  were  the  principal 
officers  of  the  crown. — Thus  the  Spanish  nobility  lost  one 
of  their  most  essential  rights. 

Wamba,  who  defeated  the  Saracens  in  an  attempt  up- 
on Spain,  was  excluded  the  throne,  because  he 
"'  had  been  clothed  in  the  habit  of  a  penitent, 
while  labom-ing  under  the  influence  of  poison,  adminis- 
tered by  the  ambitious  Erviga! — This  stroke  of  priest- 
craft, the  first  of  the  kind  we  meet  with  in  history,  shews 
at  a  distance  what  might  be  expected  from  clerical  finesse. 
A  council  adjudged  the  throne  to  Erviga;  and  another 
council,  held  during  his  reign,  prohibited  the  king,  under 
penalty  of  damnation,  from  marrying  a  king's  widow. 
This  canon  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  spirit  of  legis- 
lation which  at  that  time  prevailed  in  Spain.  The  de- 
bauchery, cruelty,  and  impiety  of  Witiza,  whose  wick- 
edness knew  no  bounds,  occasioned  a  civil  war  in  710. 
Roderic,  or  Roderigue,  dethroned  this  prince, 
and  was  himself  dethroned  by  a  people  whom 
nothing  could  withstand^ 

2.  Isidor.  Cron.  Goth.  Ferreras,  Hist.  Eisp,  vol.  ii.  Mariana,  ibid.  Greg. 
Turon.  lib.  vi. 

T^-i 


LET.  IV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  27 

The  Mahometan  religion  was  already  established  in 
many  countries.  Mahomet,  its  founder,  who  erected  at 
Mecca  a  spiritual  and  temporal  monarchy,  had  died  in 
632 J  and  his  countrymen,  the  Arabs  or  Saracens,  soon 
after  over-ran  great  part  of  Asia,  and  all  that  part  of 
Africa  which  was  under  the  Roman  dominion.  Animated 
by  the  most  violent  spirit  of  fanaticism,  their  valour  was 
altogether  irresistible.  The  Koran  promised  heaven 
and  eternal  sensuality  to  such  as  fell  in  battle,  and  the 
conquerors  always  tendered  liberty  and  protection  to 
those  who  embraced  their  superstition.  They  threatened 
the  whole  world  with  subjection.  Count  Julian,  whose 
daughter  king  Roderic  had  dishonoured,  invited  them, 
it  is  said,  to  land  in  Spain.  Nor  is  this  circumstance 
by  any  means  improbable,  considering  the  character  of 
the  times,  more  revolutions  being  then  occasioned  by  thje 
private  vices  of  princes  than  any  other  cause. 

The  Saracens,  already  masters  of  Mauritania,  now 

Barbary  (a  name   which   the  lawless   ferocity  of  their 

descendants  has  given  to  that  country,  as  it  gave  to  them 

the  name  of   Maures  or  Moors),  made  a  de- 

•  .  A.  D    712. 

scent  upon  Spain;    and  by  the  decisive  battle 

of  Xeres,  in  Andalusia,  put  an  end  to  the  empire  of  the 
Visigoths^  Muza,  viceroy  of  Africa,  under  the  calif 
Walid,  came  over  to  finish  the  conquest.  According  to 
the  prudent  policy  of  the  Mahometans  (the  only 
enthusiasts  who  ever  united  the  spirit  of  toleration  with 
a  zeal  for  making  proselytes),  he  offered  the  inhabitants 
their  religion  and  laws,  on  condition  that  they  should 
pay  to  him  the  same  subsidy  they  had  paid  their  former 
sovereigns:  and  such  as  embraced  the  religion  of  the  con- 
querors were  intitled  to  all  their  privileges.  Most  cities 
submitted  without  resistance:  those  that  held  out  he 
reduced  by  force,  burning  and  pillaging  them.  Oppas, 
archbishop  of  Seville,  and  uncle  to  the  children  of  Witiza, 

3.  Rod.  Tolet  Hht.  Arab.  Ferreras,  ubi  sup. 

was 


30  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

was  not  ashamed  on  this  occssion  to  join  the  Saracens, 
and  sacrificed  his  countiy  and  his  religion  to  his  hatred 
against  Koderic.  But  Pelagious,  a  prince  of  the  royal 
blood,  remained  firm  in  his  faith  and  his  duty;  and  when 
he  could  no  longer  keep  the  field  against  the  Infidels,  he 
retired  to  the  mountains  of  Asturlas,  followed  b)'^  a 
^  number  of  faithful  adherents.  There  he 
founded  a  Christian  kingdom  which  he  defend- 
ed by  his  valour,  and  transmitted  to  his  posterity"^. 

Meanwhile  the  Saracens  or  Moors,  little  willing  to 
confine  their  ambition  witiiin  the  limits  of  the  Pyrenees, 
made  an  unsuccessful  attack  vipon  Eudes,  duke  of  Aqut- 
taine.  But  that  check  was  soon  forgot.  Abdurrahman, 
the  new  emir  or  governor  of  Spain,  made 'a  second 
irruption  with  superior  forces,  and  penetrated  as  far  as 
Sens.  Repelled  there  by  bishop  Ebbo,  he  fell  upon 
Aquitaine,  vanquished  the  duke,  and  advanced  towards 

^  ^    the  heart  of  France.      Charles  Martel  put  a 
A.  D.  732.  .  .     . 

stop   to    his   career,    between    Poictiers   and 

Tours,  by  a  memorable  battle,  irif  which  Abdurrahman 
himself  was  slain;  and,  if  we  believe  the  historians  of 
those  times,  the  Saracens  lost  in  this  action  above  three 
hundred  thousand  men.  But  such  exaggerations  are  fit 
only  for  romance. 

Spain  was  at  first  very  miserable  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Moors.  The  emirs  being  dependent  on  the 
viceroy  of  Africa,  who  allowed  them  to  continue  but  a 
short  time  in  their  gcvernment,  were  more  busy  in  fleec- 
ing the  Spanish  nation,  than  in  the  administration  of 
justice  or  the  preservation  of  good  order.  Civil  wars 
arose  among  the  Moslems  themselves,  and  the  califs  or 
vicars  of  the  prophet,  the  successors  of  Mahomet,  who  had 
made  Damascus  the  seat  of  their  court,  were  unable  to 
quell  those  disorders.  The  competitions  for  the  califat, 
as  may  by  expected,  even  favoured  the  projects  of  the 
rebels.      At  length  that  august  dignity,   which  included 

4.  Mariana,  vol.  i.  Ferreras,  vol.  ii. 

both 


LET.  IV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  29 

both  the  highest  regal  and  sacerdotal  eminence,  passed 
from  the  family  of  the  Ommiades  to  that  of  the 
Abassides.     This  revolution,  which  was  bloo- 
dy, gave  birth  to  another,  truly  advantageous   to  Spain, 
but  injurious  to  the  Christian  faith. 

Abdurrahman,  called  also,  Almanzor,  a  prince  of  the 
blood  royal,  who  escaped  in  the  massacre  of  the 
Ommiades,  founded  in  Spain  an  independent 
kingdom,  consisting  of  all  those  provinces  which  had  been 
subject  to  the  califs  He  fixed  his  residence  at  Cordo- 
va, which  he  made  the  seat  of  the  arts,  of  magnificence 
and  of  pleasure.  Without  persecuting  the  Christians, 
he  was  able,  by  his  artful  policy,  almost  to  extinguish 
Christianity  in  his  dominions  ; — by  depriving  the  bishops 
of  their  dioceses;  by  reserving  all  honour  and  offices  for 
the  followers  of  his  prophet;  und  by  promoting  intermar- 
riages between  the  Christians  and  Mahometans.  No 
prince  in  Europe  equalled  Abdurrahman  in  wisdom,  nor 
anypeople  the  Arabs  in  whatever  tends  to  the  aggrandize- 
ment of  the  human  soul.  Lately  enemies  to  the  sciences, 
they  now  cultivated  them  with  success,  and  enjoyed  a 
considerable  share  both  of  learning  and  politeness,  while 
the  rest  of  mankind  were  sunk  in  ignorance  and  barba- 
rism*^. 

I  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  be  more  particular 
on  this  subject.  In  the  mean  time,  we  must  cast  an  eve 
on  Italy,  Rome,  Constantinople,  and  France,  from  the 
time  of  Charles  Martel  to  that  of  Charlemagne. 

5.  Ferreras.  ubi  sup.         6.  Ockley,  IlUt.  Sarac.  vol.  i.  ii. 


LETTER 


30  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 


LETTER  V. 


ITALY  UNDER  THE  DOMINION' OF  THE  OSTROGOTHS,  AND  UNDER 
THE  LOMBARDS  TILL  THE  UEIGN  OF  LUITPRAND. 

XTALY  experienced  a  variety  of  fortunes  after 
it  lost  its  ancient  masters,  before  it  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Charlemagne.     It  was  first  wholly  conquered 
*  by  the  Heruli,  a  people  from  the  extremity  of 
the  Euxlne  or  Black  Sea,  who  held  it  only  a  short  time, 
being  expelled  by  the  Ostrogoths.     Theodoric,  the  first 
Gothic  king  of  Italy,  and  several  of  his  succes- 
sors, were  princes  of  great  prudence  and  hu- 
manity.    They  allowed  the  Italians,  or  Romans,  as  they 
still  affected  to  be  called,  to  retain  their  possessions,  their 
laws,  their  religion,  their  own  government,  and  their  own 
magistrates,  reserving  only  to  the  Goths  the  principal  mi- 
litary employments.    They  acknowledged  the  emperors  of 
Constantinople  their  superiors  in  rank,  but  not  in  juris- 
diction.    Ravenna  was  the  seat  of  their  court,  and  in  real 
magnificence  vied  with  ancient  Rome,  as  their  equitable 
administration  did  with  the  reigns  of  Trajan  and  Antoni- 
nus'. They  were  at  lastsubduedby  Belisarius  and  Narses, 
the  generals  of  Justinian,  who  having  recovered  Africa 
fi-om  the  Vandals,  had  the  pleasure  of  uniting 
Italy  once  more  to  the  Roman,   Eastern,   or 

1.  Procop.  Bell.  Goth.  Cassiodor.  lib.  viii.  The  lenity  of  the  Ostro- 
goths on  first  settling  in  Italy,  may  l«e  accounted  for  from  two  causes— 
partly  from  that  polish  which  their  manners  may  be  supposed  to  have  re- 
ceived (luring  their  intercourse  with  the  Romans,  whom  they  had  long 
served  as  auxiliaries  against  the  Huns  and  other  barbarous  nations  ;  part- 
ly from  the  character  of  Theodoric  the  Gothic  conqueror,  who  having 
been  educated  at  Constantinople,  and  initiated  in  all  the  learning  of  the 
times,  retained  ever  after  a  just  admiration  of  the  Roman  laws  and  arts. 

Greek 


LET.  v.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  «1 

Greek  empire,  the  Western  empire,  which  took  its  rise, 
as  a  separate  state,  on  the  death  of  Theodosius  in  325, 
being  totally  annihilated  by  Odoacer,  king  of  the  Heruli. 

Soon  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Ostrogoths,  great  part 
of  Italy  was  seized  by  Alboinus,  king  of  the 
Lombards  or  Langobards,  a  Gothic  nation.  He 
and  his  successors  made  Pavia  the  place  of  their  resi- 
dence. The  government  of  Italy  was  now  entirely  chang- 
ed. Alboinus  established  the  feudal  policy  in  those 
countries  which  he  had  conquered,  settling  the  principal 
officers  of  his  army,  under  the  name  of  duke,  in  the  chief 
cities  of  every  province-.  A  similar  kind  of  government 
prevailed  in  that  part  of  Italy  which  remained  subject  to 
the  emperors  of  Constantinople;  the  exarch  or  supreme 
governor,  who  resided  at  Ravenna,  appointing  the  dukes 
or  chief  magistrates,  of  the  other  cities,  and  removing 
them  at  pleasure.  Even  Rome  itself  was  governed  by 
a  duke,  the  very  name  of  the  senate  and  consuls  being 
abolished. 

Alboinus  was  one  of  the  greatest  princes  of  his  time, 
and  no  less  skilled  in  the  science  of  reionine- 

A.  D.  57 1 1 

than  in  the  art  of  war ;  but  he  was  slain  by  the 
treachery  of  his  wife  Rosamund,  before  he  had  leisure  to 
perfect  the  government  of  his  kingdom.  Clephis,  his  suc- 
cessor, was  an  able,  but  a  barbarous  prince.  His  cruel- 
ties gave  the  Lombards  such  an  aversion  against  regal 
power,  that  they  resolved,  after  his  death,  to  change 
their  form  of  government;  accordingly,  for  the  space  of 
twelve  years,  they  chose  no  other  king,  but  lived  subject 
to  their  dukes.  These  dukes  had  hitherto  acknowledged 
the  royal  authority:  but,  when  the  kingly  power  was  abol- 
ished, each  duke  became  sovereign  of  his  own  city  and 
its  district. 

The  Lombards,  during  that  interregnum,  extended 
their  conquests  in  Italy.  But,  being  threatened  by  fo- 
reign enemies,  they  saw  the  necessity  of  a  closer  union; 
of  restoring  their  ancient  form  of  government  and  com- 
mitting the  management  of  the  war  to  a  single  person. 

2.  Paul.  Diac.  dc  Gest.  Langob.  lib.  ii. 

For 


52  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  v. 

For  this  purpose  the  heads  of  the  nation  assembled, 
^  and  with  one  voice  called  Autharis,  the  son  of 
Clephis,  to  the  throne.  Autharis,  perfected 
that  form  of  government,  which  had  been  established  by 
Alboinus.  Sensible  that  the  dukes,  who  had  ruled  their 
several  districts  like  indepeiiident  princes,  for  so  many- 
years,  would  not  willingly  part  with  their  authority,  he 
allowed  them  to  continue  in  their  governments,  but  re- 
served to  himself  the  supreme  jurisdiction.  He  made 
them  contribute  a  part  of  their  revenues  toward  the  sup- 
port of  his  royal  dignity,  and  take  an  oath,  that  they  would 
assist  him  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  in  time  of  war'. 
After  settling  the  government  of  his  kingdom,  he  enacted 
several  salutary  laws  for  its  tranquillity  and  good  order. 
He  was  the  first  of  the  Lombard  kings  who  embraced 
Christianity,  and  many  of  his  subjects  followed  his  ex- 
ample ;  but  being  of  the  Arian  persuasion,  like  most  of 
the  northern  conquerors,  whose  simple  minds  could  not 
comprehend  the  mysteries  of  the  Trinity  and  incarnation, 
many  disputes  were  by  that  means  occasioned  between 
the  Arian  and  Catholic  bishops;  for  the  Romans,  or 
native  Italians,  were  then  as  staunch  Catholics  as  at  this 
day. 

Liberty  of  conscience,  however,  was  allowed  under  all 
the  Lombard  kings;  and  Rotharis,  who  surpassed  all  his 
predecessors  in  wisdom  and  valour,  was  so  moderate  ia 
his  principles,  and  so  indulgent  to  his  people,  that  during 
his  reign  most  cities  of  Italy  had  two  bishops,  one  Catho- 
lic and  the  other  Arian.     He   was  the   first  prince  wha 

^  ,     c:ave  written  laws  to  the  Lombards.     For  that 
A.  D.  643  .  '         . 

purpose  he  summoned  at  Pavia,  a  general  di- 
et of  the  nobles;  and  such  regulations  as  they  approved, 
he  ordered  to  be  digested  into  a  code,  and  observed  over 
all  his  dominions.  His  military  talents  were  not  inferior 
to  his  civil.  He  very  muchextendedthe  limits  of  his  king- 
dom, and  gained  so  many  advantages  over  the  imperial 

2.  Ibid.  lib.  iii. 

forces, 


t.ET.  v.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  tS 

forces,  that  no  future  hostilities  passed  between  the  ex- 
archs and  the  kings  of  the  Lombards,  till  the  reign  of 
Luitprand. 

But  the  emperor  Constance,  before  that  time,  landed 
in  Italy  with  a  considerable  army,  which  he 
commanded  in  person,  determined  to  expel 
the  barbarians,  and  reunite  the  kingdom  of  Lombardy 
to  his  dominions.  He  at  first  gained  some  inconsiderable 
advantages;  but  his  army  was  afterward  totally  routed 
by  Romuald,  duke  of  Benevento,  whose  failier,  Gri- 
moald,  had  been  elected  king  of  the  Lombards. — Gri- 
moald  was  a  prudent  prince,  and  in  all  respects  worthy 
of  the  dignity  to  which  he  had  been  raised.  As  soon 
as  he  was  free  from  the  alarms  of  war,  he  applied  him- 
self wholly  to  the  arts  of  peace.      He  reform-  ..„ 

J     1       1  m      1-       •  1-1  r  A.   D.    668. 

ed  the  laws  ol  Kothans,  which  were  now  irom 
choice  appealed  to  by  the  Italians  as  well  as  the  Lom- 
bards; revoking  some,  and  enacting  others  more  appli- 
cable to  the  circumstances  of  the  times.  Influenced  by 
the  arguments  of  John,  bishop  of  Bergamo,  he  renounced 
the  tenets  of  Arius.  His  successors  followed  his  exam- 
ple, all  professing  the  Catholic  faith;  so  that  Arianism 
was  in  a  short  time  forsaken  by  the  whole  nation  of  the 
Lombards'^. 

Luitprand  gave  strong  proofs  of  his  wisdom  and  va- 
lour from  the  moment  he  ascended  the  throne ; 
,       ,  .  •  .      J       J  1      A.  D.  712. 

but  nis  courage  sometimes  bordered  on  rash- 
ness. Informed  that  two  of  his  attendants  had  conspired 
against  his  life,  and  only  waited  an  opportunity  to  put 
their  design  in  execution,  he  walked  out  with  them  alone, 
j^nd  upbraided  them  with  their  guilt.  Struck  with  such 
heroic  firmness,  they  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  as 
wretches  unworthy  of  mercy.  The  king,  however,  thought 
otherwise:  he  not  only  pardoned  them,  but  received  them 
into  favour,  promoting  them  afterwards  to  principal  em- 
pfloyments.  Having  thus  won  his  domestic  enemies  by 
kindness,  and  strengthened  his  interest  abroad  by  marry- 

4.  Paul.  Diac.  lil>.  y. 
VOL.  I.  K.  ing 


34  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  r, 

ing  the  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Boioari'i,  Luitprand  ap- 
plied himself,  in  imitation  of  his  two  illustrious  predeces- 
sors, Kotharis  and  Grimoald,  to  the  formation  of  new 
laws.  In  one  of  these,  his  sagacity  appears  highly  con- 
spicuous. He  blames  "  the  ridiculous  custom  of  trials 
"  by  duel,  in  which  we  would  force  God  to  manifest  his 
"justice  according  to  the  caprice  of  men;"  adding, 
*'  that  he  has  only  tolerated  the  abuse,  because  the 
*'  Lombards  are  so  much  attached  to  it^" 

But  Luitprand's  gi-eat  qualities  were  in  some  mea- 
sure shaded  by  his  boundless  ambition.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  extensive  dominions  left  him  by  his  predeces- 
sors, be  formed  the  design  of  making  himself  sole  master 
of  Italy:  and  a  favourable  opportunity  soon  offered  for  the 
execution  of  that  enterprise. 

Leo    Isauricusy    then    emperor    of    Constantinople, 

where  theological  disputes  had  long  mingled  with  affairs 

of  state,  and  where  casuists  were  more  common  upon  the 

^   throne  than  politicians,  piously  prohibited  the 

*  Vi'orship  of  images;  ordering  all  the  statues  to 
be  broken  in  pieces,  and  the  paintings  in  the  chiuxhes  to 
be  pulled  down  and  burnt.  The  populace,  whose  devo- 
tion extended  no  farther  than  such  objects,  and  the  monks 
and  secular  priests,  interested  in  supporting  the  mumme- 
ry, were  so  highly  provoked  at  this  innovation,  that  they 
publicly  revolted  in  many  places.  The  emperor,  how- 
ever, took  care  to  have  his  edict  put  in  force  in  the  East; 
and  he  strictly  enjoined  the  exarch  of  Ravenna,  and  his 
other  officers  in  the  West,  to  see  it  as  punctually  obeyed 
in  their  governments.  In  obedience  to  that  command, 
the  exarch  beean  to   pull  down  the  images  in 

'the  churches  and  public  places  at  Ravenna;  a 
conduct  which  incensed  the  superstitious  multitude  to 
such  a  degree,  that  they  openly  declared  they  would  ra- 
ther renounce  their  allegiance  to  the  emperor  than  the 
worship  of  images.       They  considered  him   as  aix  abo- 

6:  Leg.  Lang'.)h.  in  Codex.  Lindenbrog. 

mlnable 


LET.  V.3  MODERN  EUROPE.  35 

minable  heretic,  whom  it  was  hiwful  to  resist  by  force,  and 
took  arms  for  that  purpose*^. 

Luitprand,  judging  this  the  proper  season  to  put  his 
ambitious  project  in  execution,  suddenly  assembled  his 
forces,  and  unexpectedly  appeared  before  Ravenna;  not 
doubting  but  the  reduction  of  that  important  place  would 
be  speedily  followed  by  the  conquest  of  all  the  imperial 
dominions  in  Italy.  The  exarch,  though  little  prepared 
for  such  an  assault,  defended  the  city  with  much  courage; 
but  finding  he  could  not  long  hold  out  against  so  great  a 
force,  and  despairing  of  relief,  he  privately  withdrew. 
Luitprand,  informed  of  this,  made  a  vigorous  attac^; 
carried  the  city  by  storm,  and  gave  it  up  to  be  plundered 
by  his  soldiers,  who  found  in  it  an  immense  booty,  as  it 

had  been  successively  the  seat  of  the  Western 

•       •  AD    728. 

Emperors,  of  the  Gothic  kings,  and  of  the  ex- 
archs. Alarmed  at  the  fate  of  Ravenna,  most  other  ci- 
ties in  the  exarchate  surrendered  without  resistance^. 
Luitprand  seemed,  therefore,  in  a  fair  way  to  become 
master  of  all  Italy.  But  that  conquest  neither  he  nor 
any  of  his  successors  was  erer  able  to  complete:  and 
the  attempt  proved  fatal  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards^ 

£  Meimb.  Hist.  Iconodaat.  7.  Paul.  Diac.  lib.  vi. 


LEJT£R 


•M  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  u 


LETTER  VI. 


SI3EOF   THE  POPE's   TEMPORAL   POWER,  WITH   SOME   ACCOUN"? 

OF  thp:  affairs  of  italy,  the  empire  of  Constanti- 
nople, AND  THE  KINGDOM  OF  FRANCE,  FROM  THE  TIME  OF 
CHARLES  MARTEL   TO  THAT  OF  CHARLKMAGNE. 


X  HOUGH  Rome  was  now  governed  by  a 
dt'lze,  who  depended  on  the  exarch  of  Ravenna,  the  Pope, 
or  bishop,  had  the  chief  authority  in  that  cit}'.  He  was 
yet  less  conspicuous  by  his  power  than  the  respect  which 
religion  inspired  for  his  See,  and  the  confidence  which 
was  placed  in  his  character.  St.  Gregory,  who  died  in 
604,  had  negociated  with  princes  upon  several  matters  of 
state,  and  his  successors  divided  their  attention  between 
clerical  and  political  objects.  To  free  themselves  from 
the  dominion  of  the  Greek  emperors,  without  falling  a 
prey  to  the  kings  of  Italy,  was  the  great  object  of  these 
ambitious  prelates.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  impor- 
tant purpose,  they  emplo3'ed  succesfully  both  religion 
and  intrigue;  and  at  last  established  a  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral monarchy,  which  of  all  human  institutions,  perhaps 
jnost  merits  the  attention  of  man,  whether  we  consider  its 
nature,  its  progress,  or  its  prodigious  consequences. 

Gregory  II.  had  offended  the  emperor  Leo,  by  oppo- 
sing his  edict  against  the  worship  of  images;  but  he  was 
more  afraid  of  the  growing  power  of  the  Lombards  than 
of  the  emperor's  threats ;  he  therefore  resolved  to  put  a 
stop,  if  possible,  to  the  conquests  of  Luitprand.  The 
only  prince  in  Italy,  to  whom  he  could  have  recourse^ 
was  Ursus,  duke  of  Venice,  the  Venetians  making  alrea- 
dy no  contemptible  figure.  Not  less  alarmed  than  Grego- 
ry at  the  progress  of  so  powerful  a  neighbour,  Ursus  and 
^  the  Venetians  promised  to  assist  the  exarch 
(who  had  fled  to  them  for  protection)  with  the 
whole  strength  of  the  republic.     They  accordingly  fitted 

out 


LET.  VI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  M 

out  a  considerable  fleet,  while  the  exarch  conducted  an 
army  by  land,  and  retook  Ravenna  before  Luitprand  could 
march  to  its  relief. 

As  the  recovery  of  Ravenna  had  been  chiefly  owing 
to  the  interposition  of  Gregory,  he  hoped  to  be  able  to 
prevail  on  the  emperor  to  revoke  his  edict  against  the 
worship  of  images  in  the  West.  Leo,  however,  sensible 
that  the  Pope  had  been  influenced  merely  by  his  own 
interest  in  the  measures  he  had  taken  relative  to  that  event, 
was  only  more  provoked  at  his  obstinacy,  and  resolved 
that  the  edict  should  be  obeyed  even  in  Rome  itself. 
For  this  purpose  he  recalled  Scholasticus,  exarch  of 
Ravenna,  and  sent  in  his  stead  Paul,  a  patrician,  order- 
ing him  to  get  the  Pope  assassinated,  or  to  seize  him, 
and  send  him  in  chains  to  Constantinople.  But  Gregory, 
far  from  being  intimidated  by  the  emperor's  threats,  so- 
lemnly excommunicated  the  exarch  for  attempting  to  put 
the  imperial  edict  into  execution,  exhorting  all 
the  Italian  cities  to  continue  stedfast  in  the 
Catholic  faith.  Luitprand,  though  highly  incensed  against 
Gregory,  assisted  him  in  his  distress;  and  the  populace 
rose  at  Ravenna,  and  murdered  the  exarch,  making  pro- 
digious slaughter  of  the  Iconoclasts,  or  image-breakers, 
as  the  abettors  of  the  edict  were  called.  The  duke  of 
Naples  shared  the  same  fate  with  the  exarch;  and  as  Leo 
still  insisted  that  his  favourite  edict  should  be 
enforced  at  Rome,  the  people  of  that  city,  at  '  *  '  ' 
the  instigation  of  Gregory,  withdrew  their  allegiance  from 
the  Greek  emperor'.  Hence  the  rise  of  the  Pope's  tem- 
poral power. 

Informed  of  this  revolt,  and  not  doubting  who  was 
the  author  of  it,  Leo  ordered  a  powerful  army  to  be 
raised,  with  a  design  both  to  chastise  the  rebels  and  take 
vengeance  on  the  Pope.  Gi-egory,  alarmed  at  these 
warlike  preparations,  looked  round  for  some  power  on 
which  he  might  depend  for  protection.      The  Lombards 

1.  Anast.  in  Vit.  Greg.  II.  Meimb.  Hist,  Iconoclast. 

were 


83  THE   HISTORY  OF  [tart  i. 

were  possessed  of  sufficient  force,  but  they  were  too  near 
neighbours  to  be  trusted;  and  the  Venetians,  though 
zealous  Catholics,  were  not  yet  in  a  condition  to  with- 
stand the  strength  of  the  empire.  Spain  was  at  that  time 
over-run  by  the  Saracens:  the  French  seemed,  therefore, 
the  onl)^  people  to  whom  it  was  adviseable  to  apply  for 
aid,  as  they  were  at  once  able  to  oppose  the  emperor, 
and  enemies  to  his  edict,  France  was  then  governed  by- 
Charles  Martel,  the  greatest  commander  of  his  age. 
Gregory  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  Charles,  entreating 
him  to  take  the  Romans  and  the  church  under  his  pro- 
^„  tection,  and  defend  them  against  the  attempts 
*  of  Leo.  The  ambassadors  were  received  with 
extraordinary  raaiks  of  honour:  a  treaty  was  concluded^; 
and  the  French,  glad  to  get  any  concern  in  the  affairs 
of  Italy,  became  the  protectors  of  the  church. 

In  the  meantime  considerable  alterations  were  made 
by  death.  Gregory  IL  did  not  live  to  see  his  negocia- 
tion  with  France  finished.  He  was  succeeded  in  the 
See  of  Rome  by  Gregory  III.  and,  some  years  after, 
Leo  Isauricus  was  succeeded  on  the  imperial  throne  by 
his  son  Constantine  Copronymus,  who  not  only  renewed 
his  father's  edict  against  the  worship  of  images,  but 
prohibited  the  invocation  of  saints.  This  new  edict  con- 
firmed the  Romans  in  the  resolution  they  had  taken  of 
separating  themselves  entirely  from  the  empire;  morfe 
especially  as  being  now  under  the  protection  of  France, 
they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  Constantinople.  They 
accordingly  drove  out  of  their  city  such  of  the  imperial 
officers  as  had  hitherto  been  suffered  to  continue  there; 
^nd  abolished,  by  that  means  the  very  shadow  of  subjec- 

^,  .    tion  to  the  emperor.      Soon  after  Leo,    died 
ji.  n,  741. 

Charles  Martel,  and  also  Gregory  III.  who 

was  succeeded  in  the  See  of  Rome  by  Zachary,  an  active 

and  enterprising  prelate.     Immediately  after  his  election, 

he  waited  upon  Luitprand,  and  obtained  the  restoration 

2,  Sigon.  J^eg.  Itul. 


LET.  VI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  39 

of  four  cities  in  the  territory  of  Rome,  which  had  been 

yielded  to  that  prince  as  a  ransom  for  the  capital,^  when 

ready  to  fall  into  his  hands'. 

Luitprand  henceforth  laid  aside  all  ambitious  thoughts, 

dvinp:  in  peace  with  the  church  and  with  men.  „^^ 

'     ,°        ,^  r  1      1  A-  D.  743. 

Kachis,    his   successor,    conhrrned    the   peace 

with  Zachary;  but  being  afterwards  seized  with  a  thirst 
of  conquest,  he  invaded  the  Roman  dukedom,  and  laid 
siege  to  Perugia.    Zachary,  before  he  solicited  ^ 

the  assistance  of  France,  the  only  power  on  '  '  * 
which  he  could  depend,  resolved  to  try  once  more  his 
personal  influence.  He  accordingly  went  in  person  to 
the  camp  of  Rachis;  and  being  respectfully  received  by 
that  prince,  he  represented  so  forcibly  to  him  the  pimish- 
ment  reserved  for  those  who  unjustly  invade  the  property 
of  others,  that  Rachis  not  only  raised  the  siege,  but  was 
so  much  subdued  by  the  eloquence  of  the  pontiff,  that 
he  renounced  his  crown,  and  retired  to  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino;  prostrating  himself  first  at  Zachary's 
feet,  and  taking  the  habit  of  St.  Benedicf^. 

While  things  w^ere  in  this  situation  in  Italy,  Pepin, 
son  of  Charles  Martel,  governed  France  in  the  character 
of  mayor,  under  Childeric  III.  and  acquainted,  no  doubt, 
with  the  sentiments  of  his  Holiness,  proposed  to  Zachary 
a  case  of  conscience,  which  had  not  hitherto  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  bishop  of  Rome.  He  desired  to  know, 
whether  a  prince  incapable  of  governing,  or  a  minister 
invested  with  royal  authority,  and  who  supported  it  with 
dignity,  ought  to  have  the  title  of  king.  Zachary  decided 
in  favour  of  the  minister;  and  the  French  clergy  sup- 
ported the  pretensions  of  Pepin,  because  he  had  restored 
the  lands  of  vrhich  Charles  Martel  had  robbed  them. 
The  nobles  respected  him,  because  he  was  powerful  and 
brave ;  and  the  people  despised  the  sluggard  kings,  whom 
they  scarcely  knew  by  name.  The  judgment  of  the  Pope 
therefore  silenced  every  scruple.    Childeric  was  deposed; 

3.  Paul.  Diac,  lib.  vi.         4.  Id.  ibid. 

or 


46  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

or  more  properly,  degraded;  for  he  could  never  be  said 
to  reign.     He  was    shut  up   in  a  monastery. 
Pepin  was  raised  to  the  throne;  and  St.  Boni- 
face, Bishop  of  Mentz,  the  famous  apostle  of  the  Germans^ 
anointed  him  solemnly  at  Soissons^. 

This  ceremony  of  anointing,  borrowed  from  the 
Jews,  and  hitherto  unknown  to  the  French  nation,  or  at 
most  only  used  on  the  conversion  of  Clovis,  seemed  to 
bestow  on  the  king  a  kind  of  divine  character:  and  so 
far  it  was  useful,  by  inspiring  respect.  But  as  ignorance 
abuses  all  things,  the  bishops  soon  imagined  they  could 
confer  royalty  by  anointing  princes;  an  opinion  which  was 
followed  by  many  fatal  consequences.  The  Eastern 
emperors  had  long  been  crowned  by  the  patriarchs  of 
Constantinople:  the  popes,  in  like  manner,  crowned  the 
emperors  of  the  West.  Crowning  and  anointing  were 
supposed  necessary  to  sovereignty.  A  pious  ceremony 
gave  the  church  a  power  of  disposing  of  kingdoms. 

These  observations,  my  dear  Philip,  you  will  find 
frequent  occasion  to  apply.  I  offer  them  here,  in  order 
to  awaken  your  attention.  We  must  see  things  in  their 
causes,  to  reason  distinctly  on  their  effects. 

Success  soon  attended  the  crafty  policy  of  the  popes : 
the  new  king  of  France  repaid  their  favour  with  interest. 
Astulphus,  the  successor  of  Rachis,  less  piously  inclined 
than  his  brother,  thought  only  of  conquest.  In  imitation 
of  Luitprand,  he  resolved  to  make  himself  master  of  all 
Italy :  and  as  the  emperor  Constantine  Copronymus  was 
now  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  Saracens  and  Bulgarians, 
and  in  a  still  more  hot  and  dangerous  war  against  images, 
Astulphus  judged  this  a  proper  season  to  invade  the 
imperial  dominions.  He  accordingly  entered 
the  exarchate  at  the  head  of  a  considerable 
army;  took  Ravenna,  subdued  the  whole  province,  and 
also  Pentapolis,  which  he  added  to  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lombards,  reducing  the  exarchate  and  its  ancient  me- 
tropolis to  the  condition  of  a  dukedom''. 

5.  Sigon.  Feg.  Ital.        6.  Sigon.  Eeg,  ItaL 

Ambitiott 


JLET.  VI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  4t 

Ambition  is  only  increased  by  accession  of  dominion. 
Astulphus  no  sooner  saw  himself  master  of  Ravenna 
and  its  territory,  than  he  began  to  lay  claim  to  the  Ro- 
man dukedom,  and  to  Rome  itself.  He  urged  the  right 
of  conquest.  This,  he  alledged,  entitled  him  to  the 
same  power  over  that  city  and  its  dukedom  which  the 
emperors,  and  also  the  exarchs,  their  viceroys,  had  for- 
merly enjoyed,  as  he  was  now  in  possession  of  the  whole 
exarchate^  And,  in  order  to  enforce  his  demand,  he 
marched  an  army  towards  Rome,  reducing  many  cities 
in  its  neighbourhood,  and  threatening  to  put  the  inhabi- 
tants to  the  sword,  if  they  refused  to  acknowledge  him 
as  their  sovereign.  Stephen  III.  then  pope,  no  less 
alarmed  at  the  approach  of  so  powerful  a  monarch,  than 
at  the  severity  of  his  message,  endeavoured  to  appease 
him  by  a  solem-n  embassy.  But  presents,  prayers,  and 
entreaties,  were  employed  in  vain;  Astulphus  wanted  to 
govern  Rome. 

Made  sensible  at  last,  that  force  must  be  repelled  by 
force,  Stephen  resolved,  in  imitation  of  his  predecessors, 
to  crave  the  protection  of  France.  He  accordingly  applied 
to  Pepin,  who,  mindful  of  his  obligations  to  Zachary, 
and  now  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of  Clovis,  readily 
promised  the  pope  his  assistance,  and  sent  two  ambassa- 
dors to  conduct  him  to  Paris.  Astulphus  permitted  him 
to  pass:  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  both,  at  the 
expense  of  the  emperors  of  Constantinople  and  the  kings 
<of  Italy.  Stephen  anointed  Pepin  anew,  with  the  holy 
unction,  and  also  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Carloman, 
declaring  each  of  them  Romanorum  Patricius^  or  Protector 
of  the  Roman  people;  and  the  French  monarch,  in 
return  for  these  honours,  promised  to  make  a  donation 
of  the  exarchate  and  Pentapolis  to  the  Romish  church'. 
Pepin  however  endeavoured,,  before  he  set  out  for 
Italy,  to  persuade  Astulphus,  to  be  content  with  the 

7«  Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  i. 
VOL..  I.  B  dominions 


42  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paut  r. 

dominions  of  his  predecessors;  to  restore  what  he  had 
conquered  ;  and  thus  prevent  the  effusion  of 
Christian  blood.  But  finding  the  king  of  the 
Lombards  deaf  to  his  entreaties,  he  crossed  the  Alps, 
and  advanced  to  Pavia.  Astulphus  now,  convinced  of 
his  danger,  sued  for  peace,  and  obtained  it,  on  condi- 
tion that  he  should  deliver  up  to  the  pope,  not  to  the 
emperor,  all  the  places  he  had  taken.  He  consented; 
but,  instead  of  fulfilling  his  engagements,  no  sooner  did 
he  think  the  storm  blown  over  by  the  departure  of  Pepin, 
than  he  broke  again  into  tlie  Roman  dukedom,  took 
several  cities,  and  laid  siege  to  Rome. 

In  this  extremity,  Stephen  had  again  recourse  to  his 
protector  the  king  of  France,  writing  to  him  those  fa- 
mous, letters  which  are  still  extant,  and  in  which  he 
artfully  introduces  St.  Peter,  to  whom  the  donation  of 
the  exarchate  had  been  made,  conjuring  Pepin, 
his  two  sons,  and  the  states  of  France  to  come 
to  his  relief;  promising  them  all  good  things,  both  in  this 
world  and  the  next,  in  case  of  compliance,  and  denounc- 
ing damnation  as  the  reward  of  refusal".  Pepin,  much 
affected  by  this  eloquence,  wild  as  it  may  seem,  crossed 
the  Alps  a  second  time,  and  Astulphus  again  took  refuge 
in  Pavia. 

Meanwhile  the  Emperor  Constantine  Copronymus, 
informed  of  the  treaty  between  the  king  of  France  and 
the  pope,  by  which  the  latter  was  to  be  put  in  possession 
o"f  the  exarchate  and  Pentapolis,  remonstrated  by  his 
ambassadors  against  that  agreement,  offering  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  war.  But  Pepin  replied,  that  the 
exarchate  belonged  to  the  Lombards,  who  had  acquired 
it  by  the  right  of  arms,  as  the  Romans  had  originally 
done:  that  the  right  of  the  Lombards  was  now  in  him, 
so  that  he  could  dispose  of  that  territory  as  he  thought 
proper.  He  had  bestowed  it,  he  said,  on  St.  Peter,  that 
the  Catholic  faith  might  be  preserved  in  its  purity,  free 

8.  Anastas.  in  Vit.  Steph.  III. 

from 


XKT.  VI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  43 

from  the  damnable  heresies  of  the  Greeks;  and  all  the 
money  in  the  world,  he  added,  should  never  make  him 
revoke  that  gift,  which  he  was  determined  to  maintain 
to  the  church  with  the  last  drop  of  his  blood.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  resolution,  the  ambassadors  were  dismis- 
sed, without  being  suffered  to  reply.  Pepin  pressed  the 
siege  of  Paviaj  and  Astulphus,  finding  himself  unable  to 
hold  out,  agreed  to  fulfil  the  former  treaty,  giving  hosta- 
ges as  a  pledge  of  his  fidelity,  and  putting  the  pope  im- 
mediately in  possession  of  Commachio,  a  place  of  great 
importance  at  that  time?. 

Before  Pepin  returned  to  France  he  renewed  his  do- 
nation to  St.  Peter,  yielding  to  Stephen  and 
his  successor  the  exarchate ;  Emilia,  now  Ro- 
magna;  and  Pentapolis,  now  Marca  d'Ancona ;  with  all 
the  cities  therein,  to  be  held  by  them  forever;  the  kings  of 
France,  as  patricians,  retaining  only  an  ideal  superiority, 
which  was  soon  forgot'".  Thus  was  the  sceptre  added  to 
the  keys,  the  sovereignty  to  the  priesthood,  and  the  popes 
enriched  with  the  spoils  of  the  Lombard  kings  and  the 
Roman  emperors. 

Astulphus,  soon  after  ratifying  his  treaty  with  France, 
was  killed  by  accident,  when  he  was  preparing  to  reco- 
ver his  conquests.  Pepin  continued  to  extend  his  sway 
and  his  renown  till  the  year  768;  when,  after  having  impoi 
sed  tribute  on  the  Saxons  and  Sclavonians,  having  made 
the  duke  of  Bavaria  take  an  oath  of  fidelity,  and 
reunited  Aquitaine  to  his  crown, — equally  res- 
pected at  home  and  abroad, hedied  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of 
his  age,  and  the  seventeenth  of  his  reign.  He  never  affected 

9.  Leo  Ostiensis.  ubi  sup. 

10.  Many  disputes  have  arisen  concerning  the  nature  of  Pepin's  dona- 
tion, and  some  writers  have  even  denied  that  such  a  donation  was  ever 
made;  but  on  comparing  authorities,  and  observing  the  scope  of  history, 
the  matter  seems  to  have  been  nearly  as  represented  in  the  text.  The  mi- 
pertinences  of  Voltaire  on  this  subject,  under  the  form  of  reasoning,  are 
too  contemptible  to  deserve  notice, 

absolute 


44  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

absolute  power,  but  referred  all  matters  of  importance 
to  the  national  assemblies,  of  which  he  was  the  oracle. 
By  the  consent  of  the  nobles,  he  divided  his  kingdom 
between  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Carlonian. 

The  reign  of  Charles,  known  by  the  name  of  Charle- 
magne, or  Charles  the  Great,  introduces  a  new  sera,  and 
will  furnish  the  subject  of  a  future  Letter.  In  the  mean- 
time, we  must  trace  the  settlement  of  other  barbarians, 
and  the  rise  of  another  great  kingdom. 


LETTER  Vn. 


BRITAIN,    FROIM    THE    TIME    IT    WAS     RELINQUISHED    BY    THE 
ROMANS,    TO    THE    END    OE   THE    SAXON    HEPTARCHY. 


X  HE  affairs  of  our  own  island,  my  dear  Philip, 
now  claim  your  attention.  It  was  ultimately  evacuated 
by  the  Romans  about  the  year  448,  after  they  had  been 
masters  of  the  southern,  and  most  fertile  part  of  it,  for 
almost  four  centuries. 

Never,  perhaps,  was  the  debasing  influence  of  despot- 
ism so  fully  displayed  as  in  its  effect  on  our  ancient  coun- 
trymen. No  people  were  ever  more  brave,  none  more 
jealous  of  liberty,  than  the  Britons.  With  ordinary- 
weapons,  and  little  knowledge  of  military  discipline,  they 
struggled  long  with  the  Roman  power,  and  were  only 
.^^    subdued  at  last  by  reason  of  their  want  of  uni- 

A.  D.  409.  T>  r  t  -  r  .,         , 

on.  But  alter  three  centuries  oi  tranquil  sub- 
mission, when  the  exigencies  of  the  empireobligedthe  Ro- 
mans to  recal  their  legions  from  this  island,  and  resign 
to  the  inhabitants  their  native  rights,  the  degenerate  Bri- 
tons were  incapable  of  prizing  the  gift.  Conscious  of  their 
inability  to  protect  themselves  againsttheir  northenineigh- 
bours,  and  wanting  resolution  to  attempt  it,  they  would 

gladly 


LET.  VII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  45 

gladly  have  lived  in  security  and  slavery'.  They  had 
therefore  recourse,  again  and  again,  to  their  conquerors; 
and  the  Romans,  beside  occasionally  sending  over  a  le- 
gion to  the  aid  of  the  Britons,  assisted  them  in  rebuilding 
the  wall  of  Antoninus,  which  extended  between  the  friths 
of  Forth  and  Clyde.  This  wall  was  esteemed  by  the 
Romans  a  necessary  barrier,  first  against  the  Caladonians, 
and  afterwards  against  the  Scots  and  Picts. 

JMuch  time  has  been  spent  in  inquiring  after  the  ori- 
gin of  the  Scots  and  Picts,  and  many  disputes  have  arisen 
on  the  subject-.  The  most  probable  opinion,  however, 
seems  to  be,  that  they  were  two  tribes  of  native  Britons, 
who  at  different  times  had  fled  from  the  dominion  of  the 
Romans,  chusing  liberty  and  barren  mountains  rather 
than  fertile  plains  and  slavery.  But  whoever  they  were, 
they  are  allowed  to  have  been  brave  and  warlike  adven- 
turers, who  often  invaded  the  Roman  territories,  and 
were  greatly  an  over-match  for  the  now  dastardly  and 
dispirited  Britons. 

These  two  nations  or  tribes,  no  sooner  heard  of  the 

final  departure  of  the  Romans,  than  they  considered  the 

whole  British  island  as  their  own.    One  party  crossed  the 

frith  of  Forth,  in  boats  made  of  leather,  while  another 

attacked  with  fury  the  Roman  wall,  which  the  Britons 

had  repaired  for  their  defence,  but  which  they  abandoned 

on  the  first  assault,  flvinc:  like  timorous  deer, 

A.  D.  448» 
and  leaving  their  country  a  prey  to  the  enemy. 

The  Scots  and  Picts  made  dreadful  havoc  of  the  fugitives; 

and,  meeting  with  no  opposition,  they  laid  all  the  south- 

1.  Gildas,  Bede,  lib.  i.  Mr.  Gibbon,  whose  historical  scepticism  is  aA 
well  known  as  his  theological  incredulity,  has  attempted  to  controvert 
the  degeneracy  of  the  Britons  under  the  Roman  government.  But  facts 
will  speak  for  themselves;  these  he  has  not  been  able  to  destroy.  The 
Britons,  who  fled  before  their  naked  and  barbarous  neighbours,  were 
surely  inferior  to  those  that  intrepidly  contended  with  the  Roman  legions 
^.nder  Julius  Cssar  and  other  great  commanders, 

2.  See  Macpherson's  Introd,  Hist.  Brit.  Origin.  &c.  of  the  Caledonians^ 
Whi taker's  Hiit.  of  Mancbciter,  Genuine  Hist.  Brit,  and  Hume's  Hist  of 
England,  vol.  1.  note  A. 

erai 


46  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

crn  part  of  the  island  waste  with  fire  and  sword.     Fa- 

^,^  mine  followed  with  all  its  horrid  train.     The 
A    D.  449. 

*  miserable  Britons,  in  this  frightful  extremity, 

had  once  more  recourse  to  Rome.     They  v/rit  to  iEtius, 
then  consul  the  third  time,  that  memorable  letter  enti- 
tled  The  Groans   of  the  Britons^   and  which  paints  their 
unhappy  condition  strongly  as  it  is  possible  for 

*  words  i  "  We  know  not,"  say  they,  "  even 
*'  which  way  to  flee.  Chased  by  the  Barbarians  to  the 
*'  sea,  and  forced  back  by  the  sea  upon  the  Barbarians, 
*'  they  have  only  left  us  the  choice  of  two  deaths  j  either  to 
*'  perish  by  the  sword,  or  be  swallowed  up  by  the  waves^." 
What  answer  they  received  is  uncertain;  but  it  is  well 
known  they  received  no  assistance,  Rome  being  then 
threatened  by  Attila,  the  most  terrible  enemy  that  ever 
invaded  the  empire. 

The  Britons,  however,  amid  all  their  calamities,  had 
one  consolation;  they  had  embraced  Christianity ;  a  reli- 
gion which  above  all  others  teaches  the  endurance  of  mis- 
fortunes, which  encourages  its  votaries  to  triumph  in 
adversity,  and  inspires  the  soul  with  joy  in  the  hour  of 
affliction.  Many  of  them  fled  over  to  Gaul,  and  settled 
in  the  province  of  Armorica,  to  which  they  gave  the  name 
of  Britany;  part  of  them  submitted  to  the  Scots  and  Picts; 
and  part,  collecting  courage  from  despair,  sallied  from 
their  woods  and  caves  upon  the  secure  and  roving  inva- 
ders, cut  many  of  them  to  pieces,  and  obliged  the  rest 
to  retire  into  their  own  country.  But  the  enemy  threat- 
ening to  return  next  season  with  superior  forces,  the 
distressed  Britons,  by  the  advice  of  Vortigern,  prince 
of  Dunmonium,  who  then  possessed  the  principal  au- 
thority among  them,  called  over  to  their  assistance,  by 
a  solemn  deputation,  the  Saxons  and  Angles,  or  Anglo- 
Saxons'*. 


3.  Bede,  Gildas,  ubi  sup.     Gul.  Malms,  lib.  i. 

4.  Bede,  lib.  i.     Gul.  Malms,  ubi  sup. 

The 


LET.  VII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  A>i 

The  Saxons,  like  all  the  ancient  German  tribes,  were 
a  free,  brave,  independent  people.     They  had  arrived  at 
that  degree  of  civilization  in  which  the  mind  has  acquired 
sufficient  force  for  enterprise,  and  seems  to  derive  energy 
from  the  unimpaired  vigour  of  the  body.      A  nation,  ta- 
ken collectively,  is   never  perhaps  capable  of  such  great 
achivements  as  in  this  state  of  half-civilization.        The 
Saxons  had  spread  themselves  overGemany  and  the  Low- 
Countries  from  the  Cimbrian  Chersonesus,  now  Jutland, 
taking  possessionof  the  whole  territory betweenthe  Rhine 
and  the   Elbe  ;  and,  when  the   Britons   sent  to  implore 
their  assistance,  they  were  masters  not  only  of  the  present 
Westphalia,   Saxony,  east  and  West  Friesland,  but  also 
of  Holland   and  Zealand.      They  readily  complied  with 
the  request  of  Vortigern:  and  having  fitted  out  three  large 
transports,  about  fifteen  hundred  of  them  put  to  sea  under 
the  command  of  Hengist  and  Horsa,  two  brother  chiefs, 
said  to  be   descended  from  Woden,  their  tutelary   God. 
The  Saxon  chiefs  landed  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  which  was 
assigned  them  as  a  possession,  and  a  league 
was  entered  into  between  them  and  the  British 
prince^      Soon  after  their  arrival,  they  marched  against 
the  Scots  and  Picts,  who  had  made  a  new  irruption,  and 
advanced  as  far  as  Stamford.      These  northern  ravagers 
unable  to  withstand  the  steady  valour  of  the  Saxons,  were 
routed  with  great  slaughter;  and  the  Britons,  felicitating 
themselves  on  an  expedient  by  which  they  had  freed  their 
country  from  so  cruel  an  enemy,  hoped  thenceforth  to 
enjoy  security  under  the  protection  of  their  warlike  aux- 
iliaries. 


5.  Glldas.  Bede,  ubi  sup.  Chron.  Sax.  p.  13.  Mr.  Gibbon,  on  the  au- 
thority of  Nennius,  gives  a  different  account  of  this  matter  (Hist.  chap, 
xxviii.)  He  represents  Hengist  and  Horsa  as  two  fugitive  adventurers  ;  who 
in  a  piratical  cruize,  were  taken  into  the  pay  of  the  British  prince.  But  I 
can  see  no  reason  for  adopting  such  an  opinion;  for  independent  of  cir- 
cumstances, which  are  greatly  in  favour  of  tke  common  manner  of  telling 
the  story,  the  authority  of  the  venerable  Bede  is  iuvely  superior  to  that  of 
the  fabulous  Nennius. 

But 


48  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

But  mankind,  in  the  possession  of  present  good,  are 
apt  to  overlook  the  prospect  of  future  evil.  The  Bri- 
tons did  not  foresee  that  their  deliverers  were  to  be  their 
conquerors;  though  it  must  have  been  evident  to  any  dis- 
interested observer,  that  the  day  of  subjection  was  nigh. 
The  reflections  of  Hengist  and  Horsa,  aftertheir  victory 
over  the  Scots  and  Picts,  were  very  different  from  those 
©f  the  Britons.  They  considered  with  what  ease  they 
might  subdue  a  people  who  had  been  unable  to  resist 
such  feeble  invaders;  and  sent  to  their  countrymen  in- 
telligence of  the  fertility  and  opulence  of  Britain,  inviting 
them  to  come  and  share  in  the  spoils  of  a  nation, 
without  union  and  without  valour,  sunk  in  indolence  and 
sloth'. 

The  invitation  was  readily  accepted.  Seventeen  ves- 
sels soon  arrived  with  five  thousand  men;  who  joined  to 
those  already  in  the  island,  formed  a  considerable  army^. 
Though  now  justly  alarmed  at  the  number  of  their  allies, 
the  Britons  sought  security  and  relief  only  in  passive  sub- 
mission; and  even  that  unmanly  expedient  soon  failed 
them.  The  Saxons  pulled  off  the  mask ;  they  complained 
that  their  subsidies  were  ill  paid,  and  demanded  larger 
supplies  of  corn  and  other  provisions.  These  being  re- 
fused, as  exorbitant,  they  formed  an  alliance  with  the 
Scots  and  Picts:  and  proceeded  to  open  hostilities  against 
the  people  they  had  come  over  to  protect. 

The  Britons  were  at  last  under  the  necessity  of  tak- 
ing arms;  and  having  deposed  Vortigern,  who  was  be- 
come odious  by  his  vices,  and  the  unfortunate  issue  of 
his  rash  councils,  they  put  themselves  under  the  command 
of  his  son  Vortimer.  Many  battles  were  fought  between 
the  Saxons  and  Britons  with  various  success,  though  com- 
monly on  the  side  of  the  former;  and  in  one  of  these 
battles,  the  Saxon  general  Horsa  was  slain.  The  sole 
command  now  devolved  upon  Hengist:  who,  continually 


6.  Chron.  Sax.  ubi  sup.  Ann.  Beverl.  p.  49. 

7.  Had  Hengist  and  Horsa  been  a  couple  of  exiles,  thejr  would  not  so  soon 
have  found  so  many  followers. 

reinforced 


LET.  VII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  49 

reinforced  with  fresh  adventurers  from  Germany,  carried 
desolation  to  the  most  remote  possessions  of  the  Britons, 
Anxious  to  spread  the  terror  of  his  arms,  he  spared 
neither  age,  sex  nor  condition".  The  description  is  teo 
horrible  to  read ;  and,  for  the  honour  of  humanity,  I  am 
willing  to  suppose  it  to  be  partly  untrue. 

Of  the  unhappy  Britons,  who  escaped  the  general 
slaughter,  some  took  refuge  among  inaccessible  rocks 
and  mountains;  many  perished  by  hunger;  and  many, 
forsaking  their  asylum,  preserved  their  lives  at  the  ex- 
pense of  their  liberty.  Others,  crossing  the  sea,  sought 
shelter  among  their  countrymen  in  Armorica.  They 
who  remained  at  home  suffered  every  species  of  misery: 
they  were  not  only  robbed  of  all  temporal  but  spiritual 
benefits^.  In  this  extremity,  a  British  and  a  Christian 
hero  appeared.  Arthur,  prince  of  the  Silures,  revived 
the  expiring  valour  of  his  countrymen.  He  defeated  the 
Saxons  in  several  engagements;  and  particularly  in  the 
famous  battle  of  Badon-hill,   which  procured  ^^ 

the  Britons  tranquillity  for  upwards  of  forty 
years.     But  the   success  of  Hengist   and   his   followers 
having  excited    the   ambi.tion  of  other   German   tribes, 
who  arrived  at  different  times,  and  under  different  leaders, 
yet  all  speaking  one  language,  being  governed  by   the 
same  regulations,  and  passing  under  the  common  appel- 
lation of  Saxons  or  Angles,  they  were  naturally 
led  to  unite  agamst  the  ancient  inhabitants  oi 
the    island.       The    Britons   therefore    ultimately    found 
themselves   unequal  to  the   contest,    and   i-etired  to  the 
mountains  of  Cornwall  and   Wales,    v/here  they  formed 
independent  principalities,  protected  by  their  remote  and 
inaccessible  situation'". 

The  Saxons  and  Angles,  or  Anglo-Saxons  (for  they 
are  mentioned  under  both  these   denominations),    v>'ere. 

8.  Bede,   lib.  i.  Gildas,  sec.  xxiv.     Usher,  p.  226. 

9.  Bede,  GilJas,  Usher,  ubi.  sup. 

10.  Gul.  Malms,  lib.  i.  II.  Ilantiiigdon,  lib.  II,  Qhron.  Sd>:.  p.  20. 

VOL.  1.  M  now 


SQ  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

tiow  absolute  masters  of  the  whole  fertile  and  cultivated 
part  of  South  Britain,  which  had  changed  not  only  its 
inhabitants,  but  its  language,  customs,  and  political  insti- 
tutions". History  aifords  an  example  of  few  conquests 
more  bl(%ody,  and  few  revolutions  so  violent  as  that 
effected  by  the  Saxons.  In  the  course  of  their  wars  Avith 
the  Britons,  which  continued  an  hundred  and  thirty-five 
years,  they  had  established  many  separate  kingdoms,  the 
seventh  and  last  of  which  was  that  of  Northumberland. 
The  names  of  the  other  kingdoms  were  Kent,  Sussex, 
Essex,  Wessex,  Mercia,  and  East  Anglia.  These 
seven  kingdoms  formed  what  is  commonly  called  the 
Saxon  Heptarchy'". 

While  the  Saxons  had  to  struggle  with  the  Britons 
for  dominion  their  several  princes  leagued  against  the 
common  enemy,  and  an  union  of  councils  and  interests 
was  preserved.  But  after  the  wretched  natives  were 
shut  up  in  their  barren  mountains,  and  the  conquerors 
had  nothing  to  fear  from  them,  the  bond  of  alliance 
was  in  a  great  measure  dissolved,  among  the  princes  of 
the  Heptarchy;  and  although  one  prince  seems  still  to 
have  assumed,  or  to  have  been  allowed,  some  ascendant 
over  the  rest,  his  authority  v/as  so  very  limited,  that 
each  state  acted  as  if  entirely  independent.  Jealousies 
and  dissentions  arose  among  the  Saxon  chiefs,  and  these 

11.  The  Saxons  and  Angles  were  originally  distinct  ti-ibes;  but  at  thft 
time  they  landed  in  Britain,  they  were  so  much  incorporated  as  to  pass 
sometimes  under  the  one  name,  sometimes  under  the  other.  (Alford.  ad 
Ann,  449.)  Hence  the  compound  name  of  Anglo-Saxons,  given  them  by- 
most  writers.  The  Jutes  had  also  a  considerable  share  in  the  conquest  of 
South  Britain,  and  settled  themselves  in  Kent  and  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
Essex,  Middlesex,  Surrey,  Sussex,  and  all  the  southern  counties,  as  far  as 
Cornwall,  ivere  peopled  by  Saxons.  The  Saxons  also  took  possession  of 
the  northern  counties,  Norfolk,  Suirolk,  and  all  the  midland  counties 
were  inhabited  by  the  Angles,  Bede,  lib.  i.  ii.  Ethelwerd,  lib.  i.  H.  Hunt- 
ing, lib,  ii.  Hume,  vol,  i.  chap.  i. 

12.  The  extent  of  the  diflerent  kingdoms  is  of  too  little  importance 
new  to  deserve  a  particular  description. 

were 


LET.  VII.]  MODERN  EUROPE  51 

were  followed  by  perpetual  wars;  which,  in  Milton''s 
opinion,  are  no  more  worthy  of  a  particular  narration, 
than  the  combats  of  kites  or  crows.  And,  independent 
of  so  great  an  authority,  which  however  it  would  be 
presumption  to  slight,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  That 
the  barren  records  transmitted  to  us,  and  the  continued 
barbarities  of  the  times,  render  it  impossible  for  the  most 
eloquent  and  discerning  writer  to  make  this  portion  of 
our  history  either  instructive  or  entertaining.  It  will 
therefore  be  sufficient  for  me  to  observe.  That  after  a 
variety  of  inferior  revolutions,  the  seven  kingdoms  of  the 
Saxon  Heptarchy  were  united  under  Egbert,  king  of 
Wessex,    in  the  year   827'^.     His  dominions 

A.   D    827 

were  nearly  of  the  same  extent  with  what  is     *     * 
now  properly  called  England;  a  name  which  was  given 
to  the  empire  of  the  Saxons  in  Britain,  immediately  after 
the  termination  of  the  Heptarchy. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  before  this  period,  had  been  con- 
verted to  Christianity  by  the  preaching  of  Augustine,  a 
Roman  monk,  and  the  zeal  of  Bertha,  daughter  of  Cari- 
bert,  king  of  Paris,  and  wife  to  Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent; 
but  as  they  received  that  doctrine  through  the  polluted 
channels  of  the  church  of  Rome,  though  it  opened  an 
intercourse  with  the  more  polished  states  of  Europe,  it 
had  not  hitherto  been  very  effectual  either  in  purifying 
their  minds,  or  in  softening  their  manners.  The  gros- 
sest ignorance  and  superstition  prevailed  among  them. 
Revei-ences  to  saints  and  reliques  seemed  to  have  sup- 
planted the  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being;  donations  to 
the  church  atoned  for  every  violation  of  the  laws  of 
society;  and  monastic  observances  were  more  esteemed 
than  moral  virtues.  Even  the  military  virtues,  so  habitual 
to  the  Saxons,  began  to  fall  into  neglect.  The  nobility 
themselves  began  to  prefer  the  indolence  and  security 
of  the  cloister  to  the  toils  and  tumults  of  war;   and  th6 

13.  Wessex,  or  the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons,  extended  over  the 
countiei  of  Hant»,  Dorset,  Wilw,  Berks,  and  the  I»le  of  Wight. 

crown. 


52  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

crowri)  Impoverished  by  continual  benefactions  to  the 
church,  had  no  rewards  for  the  encouragement  of 
valour. 

This  corrupt  species  of  Christianity  was  attended 
with  another  train  of  inconveniences,  proceeding  from 
a  superstitious  attachment  to  the  see  of  Rome.  The 
Britons  had  conducted  all  ecclesiastical  matters  by  their 
own  synods  and  councils,  acknowledging  no  subordination 
to  the  Roman  Pontiff;  but  the  Saxons  having  received 
their  religion  through  the  medium  of  Italian  monks,  were 
taught  to  consider  Rome  as  the  capital  of  their  faith. 
Pilgrimages  to  that  city  were  accordingly  represented  as 
the  most  meritorious  acts  of  devotion;  and  not  only 
noblemen  and  ladies  of  rank  undertook  this  tedious  jour- 
ney, but  kings  themselves,  resigning  their  crow^ns, 
implored  a  safe  passport  to  heaven  at  the  foot  of  St. 
Peter's  chair,  and  exchanged  the  purple  for  the  sack- 
cloth'^. 

But  England,  even  in  those  times  of  British  darkness, 
gave  birth  to  some  men  equal,  at  least,  to  any  of  the 
age  in  which  they  lived.  Offa,  king  of  Mercia,  was 
thought  worthy  the  friendship  of  Charlemagne,  the  great- 
est prince  that  Europe  had  produced  for  many  centuries; 
and  Alcuin,  an  English  clergyman,  had  the  honour  of 
instructing  that  illustrious  monarch  in  the  sciences,  at 
the  time  when  he  was  surrounded  by  all  the  literati  of 
Christendom. 

Having  mentioned  Charlemagne,  I  think  it  necessary 
to  observe,  That  I  shall  finish  the  history  of  that  great 
conqueror  and  legislator  before  we  proceed  to  the  reign 
of  Egbert,  the  first  English  monarch ;  who,  as  you  will 
afterward  have  occasion  more  fully  to  know,  was  educated 
in  the  court,  and  in  the  armies  of  the  new  emperor  of 
the  West.  Meanwhile,  my  dear  Philip,  I  must  say  a 
few  words  of  the  government,  laws,  and  manners  of  the 
Saxons,  after  their  settlement  in  Britain. 

14.  Bede,  lib.  i.  ii.  Spell.  Cone.  H.  Hunting,  lib.  iit. 

LETTER 


Lr.T.  VIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  53 


LETTER  VIII. 


60VERNMEKT  AND  LAW   OF   THE  ANGLO-SAXONS. 

XxAD  the  Saxons,  on  their  settlement  In 
Britain,  established  the  same  form  of  government  with 
the  other  northern  nations  that  seized  the  provinces  of 
the  Roman  empire,  this  Letter  would  have  been  in  a 
great  measure  unnecessary;  but  as  they  rather  exter- 
minated than  subdued  the  natives,  and  were  under  few 
apprehensions  from  foreign  enemies,  they  had  no  occa- 
sion to  burden  themselves  with  feudal  services.  They 
therefore  retained  entire  their  civil  and  military  institu- 
tions: they  transplanted  into  this  island  those  principles 
of  liberty  and  independency  which  they  had  so  highly 
cherished  at  home,  which  had  been  transmitted  to  them 
from  their  ancestors,  and  which  still  continue  to  flourish 
among  their  descendants.  Their  original  constitution 
was  a  kind  of  military  democracy,  in  which  the  protec- 
tion of  the  state  was  the  voluntary  care  of  its  members, 
as  every  free  man  had  a  share  in  the  government;  and 
conquest  was  the  interest  of  all,  as  all  partook  in  the 
acquisitions.  Their  king,  or  chief,  was  only  the  first 
citizen  of  the  community:  his  authority  was  extremely 
limited;  and  depended,  as  did  his  station,  principally  on 
his  personal  qualities.  The  succession  was  neither  elec- 
tive nor  hereditary.  A  son  who  inherited  his  father's 
virtues  and  talents  was  sure  to  succeed  to  his  sway;  but 
if  he  happened  to  be  weak,  wicked,  or  under  age,  the  next 
in  blood  was  generally  raised  to  the  throne,  or  the  per- 
son of  most  eminence  in  the  state'. 

We  owe  to  the  masterly  pen  of  Tacitus  this  account 
of  the  primitive  government  of  the  Saxons,  who  were  a 

1.  Tscit.  de  Moribut  Germ.  cap.  xi. 

tribe 


54  THE  HISTORY  OF  [rAiwr  i. 

tribe  of  the  ancient  Cimbri.  Unfortunately  the  Saxon 
annals  are  too  imperfect  to  enable  us  to  delineate  exactly 
the  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  and  the  privileges  of  the 
people,  after  their  settlement  in  Britain.  The  govern- 
ment might  be  somewhat  diiferent  in  the  different  king- 
doms of  the  Heptarchy,  and  might  also  undergo  several 
changes  before  the  Norman  conquest;  but  of  those 
changes  we  are  in  a  great  measure  ignorant.  We  only 
know,  that  at  all  times,  and  in  all  the  kingdoms,  there 
was  a  national  council,  a  Wittenagemot,  or  Assembly  of 
the  WiseMen,  whoseconsentwasnecessary  totheenacting 
of  laws,  and  to  give  sanction  to  the  measures  of  public 
administration.  But  who  the  constituent  members  of 
that  assembly  were,  has  not  hitherto  beeen  determined 
with  certainty.  The  most  probable  conjecture  however 
seems  to  be,  that  it  consisted  of  the  nobility,  the  digni- 
fied clergy,  and  all  freeholders  possessing  a  certain  portion 
of  land. 

The  Saxons  were  divided  into  three  orders  of  men; 
the  noble,  the  free,  and  the  servile.  These  distinctions 
they  brought  into  Britain  with  them.  The  nobles  were 
called  thanes,  and  were  of  two  kinds,  the  greater  and 
lesser  thanes.  The  latter  seem  to  have  had  sonie 
dependence  on  the  former,  as  the  former  had  on  the 
king,  but  of  what  nature  is  uncertain.  The  lower  kind 
of  freemen  among  the  Saxons  were  denominated  ceorles, 
and  were  chiefly  employed  in  husbandry.  Whence  a 
husbandman  and  ceorle  came  to  be  synonymous  terms. 
They  farmed  the  lands  of  the  nobility,  or  higher  orders, 
and  appear  to  have  been  removable  at  pleasure.  But  the 
slaves,  or  villains,  w^ere  by  much  the  most  numerous 
class  in  the  community;  and  being  the  property  of  their 
masters,  were  consequently  incapable  of  holding  any  pro- 
perty themselves.  They  were  of  two  kinds:  houshold 
slaves,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancients;  and  rustic 
slaves,  who  were  sold  and  transferred,  like  cattle,  with 
the  soil.  The  long  wars  between  the  Saxons  and  Britons, 
and  afterwards  betv/een  the  different  kingdoms  of  the 
Haptarchy,  seem  to  have  been  the  cause  of  the  dispro- 
portionate 


LET.  VIII.]         MODERN  EUROPE  SS 

portionate  number  of  these  unhappy  men;  for  prisoner^ 
taken  in  battle  were  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  laws  of 
war,  and  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  their  masters^. 

The  higher  nobility  and  dignified  clergy  among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  possessed  a  criminal  jurisdiction  within 
their  own  territories,  and  could  punish  without  appeal 
such  as  they  judged  worthy  of  death.  This  was  a  dan- 
gerous privilege,  and  liable  to  the  greatest  abuse.  But 
although  the  Anglo-Saxon  government  seems  at  last  to 
have  become  in  some  measure  aristocratical,  there  were 
still  considerable  remains  of  the  ancient  democracy.  All 
the  freeholders  assembled  twice  a  year  in  the  county- 
courts,  or  Shiremotes,  to  receive  appeals  from  the  inferi- 
or courts ;  a  practice  well  calculated  for  the  preservation  of 
general  liberty,  and  for  restraining  the  exorbitant  power 
of  the  nobles.  In  these  courts  they  decided  all  causes, 
ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil,  the  bishop  and  alderman, 
or  earl,  presiding  over  them.  The  case  was  determined 
hy  a  majority  of  voices,  without  much  pleading,  forma- 
lity, or  delay;  the  bishop  and  earl  having  no  farther  autho- 
rity than  to  keep  order  among  the  freeholders,  and  offer 
their  advice  when  necessary^.  Though  it  should  there- 
fore be  granted,  that  the  Wittenagemot  was  composed 
entirely  of  the  greater  thanes  anddignified  clergy,  yet  in  a 
government  where  few  taxes  were  imposed  by  the  legis- 
lature, and  few  statutes  enacted;  where  the  nation  was 
Jess  governed  by  laws  than  by  customs,  which  allowed 
much  latitude  of  interpretation,  the  county-courts,  where 
all  the  freeholders  were  admitted,  and  which  regulated 
all  the  dally  occurrences  of  life,  formed  a  wide  basis  for 
freedom. 

The  criminal  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  of  most 
barbarous  nations,  were  uncommonly  mild;  a  compensa- 
tion in  money  being  sufficient  for  murder  of  any  species, 
and  for  the  life  of  persons  of  any  rank,  not  excepting 
the  king  and  the   archbishop,  whose  head,  by  the  laws 

2.  L.  Edg.  sec.  xiv.    ap.  Spelman,  Cone.  vol.  i.  Brady,  Gai.  Pref.  p. 
7,  8,  9.     Nithard,  Bist.  lib.   iv. 

3.  Hickes,  dissert.  Eplst.  ii....viii. 

of 


56  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  Kent,  was  estimated  higher  than  the  king's.  The 
price  of  all  kinds  of  wounds  was  also  settled:  and  he  who 
was  caught  in  adultery  with  his  neighbour's  wife,  was  or- 
dered by  the  laws  of  Ethelbert  to  pay  him  a  fine,  and 
buy  him  another  wife;  a  proof,  though  somewhat  equi- 
vocal, of  the  estimation  in  which  women  were  then  held. 
The  punishments  for  robbery  were  various,  but  none  of 
them  capital.  If  any  person  should  track  his  stolen  cat- 
tle into  another's  ground,  the  owner  of  the  ground  was 
obliged  to  shew  their  tracts  out  of  it,  or  pay  the  value  of 
the  cattle  '^. 

But  if  the  punishments  for  crimes  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  were  singular,  their  proofs  were  no  less  so. 
When  any  controversy  about  a  fact  was  too  intricate  for 
the  ignorant  judges  to  unravel,  they  had  recourse  to  what 
they  called  the  Judgment  of  God:  or  in  other  words,  to 
chance.  Their  modes  of  consulting  that  blind  divinity 
were  various,  but  the  most  common  was  the  ordeal.  This 
method  of  trial  was  practised  either  by  boiling  wa- 
ter, or  red-hot  iron.  The  water  or  iron  was  consecrated 
by  many  prayers,  masses,  fastings,  and  exorcisms;  after 
which  the  person  accused  either  took  up  with  his  naked 
hand,  a  stone  sunk  in  the  water  to  a  certain  depth  or 
carried  the  iron  to  a  certain  distance.  The  hand  was 
immediately  wrapped  up,  and  the  covering  sealed  for 
three  days:  and  if  on  examining  it  there  appeared  no 
marks  of  burning  or  scalding,  the  person  accused  was 
pronounced  innocent!  if  otherv/ise,  he  was  declared 
guilty^.  The  same  kinds  of  proof,  or  others  equally  extra- 
vagant, obtained  among  all  the  nations  on  the  continent ; 
and  money,  in  like  manner  was  every  where  the  atone- 
ment for  guilt,  both  in  a  civil  and  ecclesiastical  sense. 

4.  Avglo-Saxon  Laws,  ap.  Wilkins.  5.  Spelman,  in  Verb.  OrJeal. 


LETTER 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN    EUROPE. 


LETTER  IX. 


THE  REIGN  OF  CHARLEMAGNE,  OR  CHARLES  THE  ORE  AT,  KING 
OF  FRANCE  AND  EMPEROR  OF  THE  WEST. 


VyllARLES  and  Carloman,  the  two  sons  of 
Pepin,  and  his  successors  in  the  French  monarchy,  were 
men  of  very  different  dispositions.  Charles  was  open 
and  generous,  Carloman  dark  and  suspicious; 
it  was  therefore  happy  for  mankind,  that  Car- 
loman died  soon  after  his  father,  as  perpetual  wars  must 
have  been  the  consequence  of  the  opposite  tempers  and 
interfering  interest  of  the  brothers.  Now  alone  at  the 
head  of  a  powerful  kingdom,  Charles's  great  and  ambi- 
tious genius  soon  gave  birth  to  projects  which  will  ren- 
der his  name  immortal.  A  prosperous  reign  of  forty-six 
years,  abounding  with  military  enterprises,  political  in- 
stitutions, and  literary  foundations,  offers  to  our  view,  in 
the  midst  of  barbarism,  a  spectacle  worthy  of  more  po- 
lished ages. 

But  before  we  proceed  to  the  history  of  this  illustrious 
reign,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of  the  state  of  Germany  at 
that  time. 

Germany  was  anciently  possessed  by  a  number  of  free 
and  independent  nations,  who  bravely  defended  their  li- 
berties against  the  Romans,  and  were  never  totally  sub- 
jected by  them.  On  the  decline  of  the  Roman  empire, 
many  of  those  nations  left  their  native  country,  as  we  have 
seen, and  founded  empires  of  their  own;  so  that  Germany, 
at  the  accession  of  Charlemagne  to  the  crown  of  France, 
was  principally  occupied  by  the  Saxons.  Of  their  govern- 
ment I  have  already  spoken.  They  v/ere  still  Pagans. 
What  was  then  considered  as  their  territory  comprehend- 
ed a  vast  tract  of  country.   It  was  bounded  on  the  west  by 

VOL.  1.  N  the 


*8  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  German  ocean,  by  Bohemia  on  the  east,  on  the  north 
by  the  Baltic  sea,  and  on  the  south  by  Germanic  France, 
extending  along  the  lower  Rhine,  and  from  Issel  beyond 
Mentz.  This  extensive  empire  was  governed  by  an  in- 
finite number  of  independent  princes,  and  inhabited  by 
a  variety  of  tribes,  under  different  names;  who,  by  rea- 
son of  their  want  of  union,  had  become  tributary  to  the 
French  monarchs.  But  whenever  the  throne  of  France 
was  vacated  by  death,  or  when  the  kings  of  France  were 
engaged  either  in  foreign  or  domestic  wars,  the  Saxon 
princes  threw  off  their  allegiance,  and  entered  the  French 
territories'.  Charles  had  occasion  to  quell  one  of  those 
revolts  immediately  after  the  death  of  his  brother;  and 
the  work  was  but  imperfectly  executed,  when  his  arms 
were  wanted  in  another  quarter. 

Charles  and  Carloman  had  married  two  daughters  of 
Desiderius,  king  of  the  Lombards.  Carloman  left  two 
sons  by  his  wife  Berta;  but  Charles  had  divorced  his 
consort,  under  pretence  that  she  was  incapable  of  bearing 
children,  and  married  Ildegarda,  a  princess  of  Suabia. 
Berta,  the  widow  of  Carloman,  not  thinking  herself  and 
her  children  safe  in  France  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
fled  to  her  father  in  Italy,  and  put  herself  and  her  two 
sons  under  his  protection.  Desiderius  received  them 
with  joy.  Highly  incensed  against  Charles  for  divorcing 
his  other  daughter,  he  hoped  by  means  of  these  refugees 
to  raise  such  disturbances  in  France  as  might  both  gratify 
his  revenge,  and  prevent  the  French  monarch  from  inter- 
meddling in  the  affairs  of  Italy.  In  this  hope  he  was  en- 
wwg  couraged  by  his  intimacy  with  pope  Adrian  I. 
"*  to  whom  he  proposed  the  crowning  and  anoint- 
ing of  Carloman's  two  sons.  But  Adrian,  though  suffi- 
ciently disposed  to  oblige  him,  refused  to  comply  with 
the  request;  sensible  that  by  so  doing  he  must  incur  the 
displeasure  of  Charles,  the  natural  ally  of  the  church, 
and  the  only  prince  capable  of  protecting  him  against  his 

1.  Eginhard,  in  Vit.  Car.  Mog. 

ambitious 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  59 

ambitious  enemies.  Enraged  at  a  refusal,  Desiderius 
ravaged  the  papal  territories;  or,  as  they  were  called,  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter^  and  threatened  to  lay  siege  to 
Rome  itself.  In  order  to  avert  the  pressing  danger  Adrian 
resolved  to  have  recourse  to  France,  in  imitation  of  his 
predecessors.  He  accordingly  sent  ambassadors  private- 
ly to  Charlemagne,  not  only  imploring  his  assistance,  but 
inviting  him  to  the  conquest  of  Italy,  his  friendship  for 
Desiderius  being  now  converted  into  the  most  rancorous 
hate.  The  French  monarch,  who  waited  only  an  oppor- 
tunity to  revenge  himself  on  that  prince  for  keeping  his 
nephews,  and  still  more  for  wanting  to  crown  them,  re- 
ceived the  pope's  invitation  with  incredible  satisfaction. 
He  immediately  left  Germany,  concluding  a  kind  of  trea- 
ty with  the  Saxons,  and  collected  such  an  army  as  evi- 
dently shewed,  that  his  object  v,^as  nothing  less  than  the 
extinction  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards^. 

Desiderius,  informed  of  these  preparations,  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  and  sent  several  bodies 
of  troops  to  guard  the  passes  of  the  Alps.  But  Charle- 
magne, apprised  of  this  precaution,  sent  a  detachment 
under  experienced  guides  to  cross  the  mountains  by  a 
different  route.  The  French  completed  their  march; 
and  falling  unexpectedly  upon  the  Lombards,  who  guard-;- 
ed  the  passes,  struck  them  with  such  terror,  that  they 
fled  in  the  utmost  confusion.  Charles  now 
entered  Italy  unmolested,  and  marched  in  quest 
of  Desiderius.  Finding  himself  unable  to  keep  the  field, 
the  king  of  the  Lombards  retired  to  Favia,  his  capital; 
sending  his  son  Adalgisus,  and  his  daughter  Berta,  the 
widow  of  Carloman,  with  her  two  sons,  to  Verona,  a 
place  not  inferior  in  strength  to  Favia. 

As  soon  as  Charlemagne  understood  that  Desideri- 
us had  taken  shelter  in  Favia,  he  assembled  his  whole 
army  and  laid  siege  to  that  city,  resolving  not  to  witli- 
draw  his  forces  till  it  had  submitted:  but,  as  the  Lom.- 

2,  Sjgon,  Eeg.  Lei.      Anast.  in  Vit.  Hadriani. 

bards 


CO  THE  HISTORY  OF  [pajit  i. 

bards  made  a  gallant  defence,  he  changed  the  siege  into 
a  blockade,  and  marched  with  part  of  his  troops  to  invest 
Verona.  Adalgisus  defended  the  place,  for  a  time,  with 
great  bravery,  but  finding  himself,  at  last,  reduced  to 
extremities,  and  despairing  of  relief,  he  secretly  withdrew 
and  fled  to  Constantinople,  where  he  was  cordially  receiv- 
ed by  the  emperor.  Verona  now  surrendered  to  Charles; 
who  having  got  Berta,  his  brother's  widow,  and  her 
two  sons  into  his  power,  sent  them  immediately,  under 
a  strong  guard,  into  France.  What  afterwards  became 
of  them,  history  has  not  told  us.  It  is  much  to  be  fear- 
ed, however,  that  their  fate  was  little  to  the  honour  of 
the  conqueror.  Humanity  was  not  the  characteristic  of 
those  times. 

The   siege   of  Pavia  was  renewed,  and  pushed  with 

fresh  vigour.     But  the  festival    of  Easter  approaching, 

^„  ,    which  Charles  had  resolved  to  spend  at  Rome, 

A.   D.    z/^. 

*  he  left  the  conduct  of  the  siege  once  more  to 
his  uncle  Bernard.  The  pope  received  his  deliverer  in 
the  most  pompous  manner,  the  magistrates  and  judges 
walking  before  him  with  their  banners,  and  the  clergy 
repeating,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord!"  After  Charles  had  satisfied  his  curiosity, 
and  confirmed  the  donation  which  his  father  Pepin  had 
made  to  St.  Peter,  he  returned  to  the  camp  before  Pa- 
via. The  Lombards  still  continued  to  defend  that  city 
with  obstinate  valour,  so  that  the  siege  was  little,  if  at 
all  advanced;  but  a  plague  breaking  out  among  the  be- 
sieged, the  unfortunate  Desiderius  was  obliged  at  last  to 
surrender  his  capital,  and  deliver  up  himself,  his  wife, 
and  his  children,  to  Charles,  who  sent  them  all  into 
France,  where  they  either  died  a  violent  death,  or  lan- 
guished out  their  days  in  obscurity,  being  never  more 
heard  of ^ 

Thus  ended  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards  in  Italy, 
after  it  had  subsisted  two  hundred  and  six  years.  They 
are  represented   by   the   monkish  historians  as  a  cruel 

3.  Leo  Ostiens.  Monarch.  Engolism. 

and 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  61 

and  barbarous  people,  because  they  opposed  the  ambitious 
views  of  the  popes:  but  the  many  wholesome  laws  which 
they  left  behind  them,  and  which  devouring  time  has  still 
spared,  are  convincing  proofs  of  their  justice,  humanity, 
and  wisdom. 

A  short  account  of  the  state  of  Italy  at  the  time  it 
was  entered  by  Charlemagne  will  here  be  proper,  and  also 
of  the  new  form  of  government  introduced  there  by  the 
conqueror. 

Italy  was  then  shared  by  the  Venetians,  the  Lombards, 
the  popes,  and  the  emperors  of  the  East.  The  Vene- 
tians were  become  very  considerable  by  their  trade  to 
the  Levant,  and  bore  no  small  sway  in  the  affairs  of  Ita- 
ly, though  it  does  not  appear  that  they  had  yet  any  town 
on  the  terra  frma^  or  continent.  The  pope,  by  the  gene- 
rosity of  Pepin  and  his  son  Charles,  was  now  master  of 
the  exarchate  and  Pentapolis.  The  dukedom  of  Naples, 
and  some  cities  in  the  two  Calubrias,  v/ere  still  held  by 
the  emperors  of  the  East.  All  the  other  provinces  of 
Italy  belonged  to  the  Lombards;  namely  the  dukedoms 
of  Friula,  Spoleto,  and  Benevento,  together  with  the 
provinces  of  Liguria,  Venetia,  Tuscany,  and  the  Alpes 
Cottias,  which  were  properly  called  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lombards.  These  Charles  claimed  by  right  of  conquest, 
and  caused  himself,  in  imitation  of  them,  to  be  crowned 
king  of  Italy,  v/ith  an  iron  crown'^,  which  is  still  preser- 
ved   in  the  little  tov/n  of  Monza. 

The  ceremony  of  coronation  being  over,  the  conqueror 
thought  it  necessary  to  settle  the  government  of  his  nev/ 
kingdom,  before  he  left  Italy;  and,  after  consulting  with 
the  pope,  who  declared  him  patrician  of  Rome,  and  pro- 
tectorof  the  apostolic  see, he  agreed  that  the  people  should 
be  permitted  to  live  under  their  former  laws,  and  that 
all  things  should  remain  as  established  by  his  predeces- 
sors. Accordingly  he  allowed  the  dukes  of  Friuli,  Spo- 
leto,   and   Benevento,    the   same   authority   which  they 

4.  Eginhard,  in  Vit.  Car.  Mt'v. 

had 


^2  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

had  enjoyed  under  the  Lombard  kings.  He  also  permit- 
ted the  other  dukes  to  hold  their  dukedoms,  contenting 
himself  with  an  oath  of  allegiance,  which  he  obliged  them, 
and  likewise  the  three  great  dukes,  to  take  annuall3\  It 
was  conceived  in  these  words;  "  I  promise,  without  fraud 
*'  or  deceit,  to  be  faithful  to  my  sovereign  Charles,  and 
*'  his  sons,  as  long  as  I  live;  and  I  swear  by  these  Holy 
*'  Gospels,  that  1  will  be  faithful  to  him,  as  a  vassal  to 
"  his  lord  and  sovereign:  neither  will  I  divulge  any  thing 
*'  which,  in  virtue  of  my  allegiance,  he  shall  commit  to 
"  me."  He  never  transferred  a  dukedom  from  one  fami- 
ly to  another,  unless  when  the  duke  broke  his  oath,  or 
died  without  male  issue.  This  translation  from  one  to 
another  was  called  investiture;  and  hence  it  came,  that 
fiefs  were  not  granted  but  by  investiture,  as  was  after- 
wards the  case  with  respect  to  other  vassals  and  feudato- 
ries'. 

Charles  committed  the  boundaries  of  his  new  king- 
dom, and  the  territory  of  cities,  to  the  care  of  counts,  who 
were  vested  with  great  authority.  These  boundaries  were 
called  Marchse  or  Marches,  and  those  who  had  the 
care  of  them  were  styled  Counts  of  the  Marches, 
or  Marquisses,  whence  the  title  marquis  had  its  rise. 
He  also  sent  occasionally  missi,  or  commissaries  who 
were  vested  with  higher  powers,  and  examined  into 
the  conduct  of  the  counts,  whose  province  it  was  to  admi- 
nister justice  over  all  the  dominions  of  Charlemagne. — 
That  Italy  might  retain  at  least  some  shadow  of  liberty, 
he  convened,  as  often  as  he  returned  thither,  a  general 
assembly  of  all  the  bishops,  abbots,  and  barons  of 
the  kingdom,  in  order  to  settle  affairs  of  national  impor- 
tance. The  Lombards  had  but  one  order  in  the  state, 
composed  of  the  barons  and  judges;  but  the  French,  in 
the  time  of  Charlemagne,  had  two,  the  clergy  and  nobili- 
ty; hence  was  added  by  Charles  in  Italy,  after  the  man- 
ner of  France,  the  order  of  ecclesiastics  to  that  of  the 
barons  or  noblest 

5.  Sigonius,  ubi  sup.  6.  Ibid. 

The 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  63 

The  affairs  of  Italy  being  thus  settled,  Charles 
returned  to  France  and  marched  immediately 
against  the  Saxons,  who  had  again  revolted 
during  his  absence.  But  his  wars  with  that  barbarous, 
though  brave  and  independent  people,  which  lasted 
upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  formed  the  principal  busi- 
ness of  his  reign,  could  afford  little  pleasure  to  a 
humanized  mind.  I  shall  therefore  only  observe,  That, 
after  a  number  of  battles  gallantly  fought,  and  many 
cruelties  committed  on  both  sides,  the  Saxons  were  to- 
tally subjected,  and  Germany  became  part  of  the  empire 
of  Charlemagne.  A  desire  to  convert  the  Saxons  to 
Christianity  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  principal 
motives  for  prosecuting  this  conquest;  and  as  they  were 
no  less  tenacious  of  their  religion  than  their  liljerty,  per- 
secution marched  in  the  train  of  war,  and  stained  with 
blood  the  fetters  of  slavery. 

Witikind,  so  deservedly  celebrated  by  his  nation,  was 
the  most  eminent  Saxon  general  during  these  hostilities. 
He  frequently  roused  the  drooping  valour  of  his  country- 
men, and  revived  in  their  hearts  the  love  of  liberty  and 
independency.  Nor  were  they  wanting  to  him  in  attach- 
ment, for  which  they  severely  paid.  After  an  unsuc- 
cessful revolt,  when  they  went  to  make  submission  to 
Charlemagne,  he  ordered  four  thousand  five  htindred  of 
theirprincipal  men  to  be  massacred,  because  they  refused 
to  deliver  up  their  general'.  An  equal  instance  of  severity 
is  not,  perhaps,  to  be  met  with  in  the  history  of  mankind; 
especially  if  v/e  consider,  that  the  Saxons  were  not 
Charles's  natural  subjects,  but  an  independent  people 
struggling  for  freedom.  Witikind  at  last  submitted  and 
embraced  Christianit}',  continuing  ever  after  faithful  to 
his  engagements.  But  he  could  never  inspire  his 
associates  with  the  same  docile  sentiments:  they  were 
continually   revolting;   and  submitting,   that  they  might 


7.  Eginhard,  in  AnnaU 

have 


64  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PARt  i. 

have  it  in  their  power  to  revolt  again.  On  the  final 
reduction  of  their  country,  the  more  resolute  spirits  retir- 
ed into  Scandinavia,  carrying  along  with  them  their 
vindictive  hatred  against  the  dominion  and  the  religion 
of  France. 

A  word  here  of  religion.  Charlemagne  very  justly 
considered  the  raild  doctrines  of  Christianity  as  the  best 
means  of  taming  a  savage  people;  but  he  was  mistaken 
in  supposing  that  force  will  ever  make  Christians.  His 
Capitulars  for  the  Saxons  are  almost  as  barbarous  as 
their  manners.  He  obliged  them,  under  pain  of  death,  to 
receive  baptism;  he  condemns  to  the  severest  punishments 
the  breakers  of  Lent:  in  a  word,  he  every  where  substi- 
tutes force  for  persuasion.  Instead  therefore,  of  blam- 
ing the  obstinacy  of  these  barbarians,  we  ought  to  be  filled 
%vith  horror  at  the  cruel  bigotry  of  the  conqueror. 

Almost  every  year  of  Charles's  reign  was  signalized 
by  some  military  expedition,  though  very  different  from 
those  of  our  times.  War  was  then  carried  on  without 
any  settled  plan  of  operations.  The  troops  were  neither 
regularly  disciplined  nor  paid.  Every  nobleman  led 
forth  his  vassals,  who  were  only  obliged  to  serve  for  a 
certain  timej  so  that  there  was  a  kind  of  necessity  of 
concluding  the  war  with  the  campaign.  The  army  was 
dissolved  on  the  approach  of  winter,  and  assembled  next 
season,  if  necessary.  Hence  we  are  enabled  to  account 
for  a  circumstance  which  would  otherwise  appear  inex- 
plicable, in  the  reign  of  this  great  prince. — Besides  the 
Lombards,  and  Saxons,  whom  he  conquered,  Charles 
vanquished  in  several  engagements  the  Abares  or  Huns, 
plundered  their  capital,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  Raab 
on  the  Danube.  He  likewise  made  an  expedition  into 
Spain,  and  carried  his  arms  to  the  banks  of  the  Ebro^. 

Abdurrahman,  the  Moorish  king,  whom  I  have 
alread}'  mentioned,  still  reigned  with  lustre  at  Cordova. 
A  superb  mosque,   now  the  cathedral  of  that  city,   six 

8.  Id.  ibid. 

hundred 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  f,5 

hundred  feet  in  length,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  in 
breadth,  supported  by  three  hundred  and  sixty-fue 
columns  of  alabaster,  jasper,  and  black  marble,  continues 
to  manifest  the  grandeur  of  this  monarch.  No  other 
people  but  the  Arabs  could  then  either  have  conceived 
or  executed  such  a  work.  The  little  Christian  king  of 
the  Asturias  had  prudently  sued  for  peace  from  Abdur- 
rahman; but  the  Moorish  governors  of  Saragossa  and 
Arragon  having  revolted,  implored  the  assistance  of 
Charlemagne,  offering  to  acknowledge  him  as  their 
sovereign.       Willing  to  extend  his  empire  on  that  side, 

Charles  crossed  the  Pyrenees  v/ith  all  exoedi- 

..     1     T>  1    '  1    c  '        ,  A.  D.   778. 

tion;   took    Jr'ampeiuna    and   baragossa,   and 

re-established  the  Moorish  governors  under  his  protec- 
tion. In  repassing  the  mountains,  his  rear-guard  was 
defeated  by  the  duke  of  Gascony,  at  Roncevaux''.  Here 
fell  the  famous  Roland,  so  much  celebrated  in  Romance, 
and  represented  as  nephew  to  Charlemagne;  though  his- 
tory only  tells  us,  that  he  commanded  on  the  frontiers  of 
Bretagne. 

But  Charles,  though  engaged  in  so  many  v/ai's,  was 
far  from  neglecting  the  arts  of  peace,  the  happiness  of  his 
subjects,  or  the  cultivation  of  his  own  mind.  Govern- 
ment, manners,  religion,  and  letters,  v/ere  his  constant 
study.  He  frequently  convened  the  national  assemblies, 
for  regulating  affairs  both  of  church  and  state.  In  these 
assemblies  he  proposed  such  laws  as  he  considered  to 
be  of  public  benefit,  and  allowed  the  same  liberty  tO' 
others;  but  of  this  liberty,  indeed  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  deprive  the  French  nobles,  vvho  had  been 
accustomed,  from  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy,  to 
share  the  legislation  with  their  sovereign.  His  attention 
extended  even  to  the  most  distant  corner  of  his  empire, 
and  to  all  ranks  of  men.  Sensible  how  much  mankind 
in  general  reverence  old  customs,  and  those  constitu- 
tions under  which  they  have  lived  from  their  youth,   he 

9.  Eginhard,  iibi  sup, 

VOL.  T.  o  permitted 


66  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

.permitted  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  countries  that  he 
conquered  to  retain  their  own  laws,  making  only  such 
alterations  as  he  judged  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
good  of  the  community.  He  was  particularly  tender  of 
the  common  people  and  every  where  studied  their  ease 
and  advantage.  This  benevolence  of  mind,  which  can 
never  be  sufficiently  admired,  was  both  more  necessary 
and  more  meritorious  in  those  times,  as  the  commonalty 
were  then  in  a  state  of  almost  universal  oppression,  and 
scarcely  thought  entitled  to  the  common  sympathies  of 
humanity.  The  same  love  of  mankind  led  him  to  repair 
and  form  public  roads ;  to  build  bridges,  where  necessary; 
to  make  rivers  navigable,  for  the  purposes  of  commerce  ; 
and  to  project  that  grand  canal,  which  would  have  opened 
a  communication  between  the  German  Ocean  and  the 
Black  Sea,  by  uniting  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine'".  This 
illustrious  project  failed  in  the  execution,  for  want  of 
those  machines  which  art  has  since  constructed.  But 
the  greatness  of  the  conception,  and  the  honour  of  hav- 
ing attem.pted  it  were  beyond  the  power  of  contingencies: 
and  posterity  has  done  justice  to  the  memory  of  Charles, 
by  considering  him  on  account  of  that  and  his  other 
public  spirited  plans,  as  one  of  those  few  conquerors  who 
did  not  merely  desolate  the  earth;  as  a  hero  truly  worthy 
of  the  name,  who  sought  to  unite  his  own  glory  with  the 
welfare  of  his  species. 

This  great  prince  was  no  less  amiable  in  private  life 
than  illustrious  in  his  public  character.  He  was  an 
affectionate  father,  a  fond  husband,  and  a  generous  friend. 
His  house  was  a  model  of  ceconomy,  and  his  person  of 
simplicity  and  true  grandeur.  "  For  shame!"  said  he 
to  some  of  his  nobles,  who  were  finer  dressed  than  the 
occasion  required;  "  learn  to  dress  like  men,  and  let  the 
world  judge  of  your  rank  by  your  merit,  not  your  habit. 
I^eave  silks  and  finery  to  women;  or  reserve  them  for 
ihose  days  of  pomp  and  ceremony,  when  robes  are  worn 

10.  Eginliard,  Vit.  Cur.  Mag. 

for 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  er 

for  shew,  not  use."  On  some  occasions  he  himself 
appeared  in  imperial  magnificence,  and  freely  indulg- 
ed in  every  luxury;  but  in  general  his  dress  was  plain, 
and  his  table  frugal.  His  only  excess  was  in  the  pleasure  of 
the  sexes,  at  once  the  most  natural  and  the  most  excu- 
sable; and  this,  it  must  be  owned,  he  sometimes  carried 
to  such  a  height  as  to  endanger  his  very  athletic  constitu- 
tion, he  being  almost  seven  feet  high,  and  proportionably 
strong.  He  had  his  set  hours  for  study,  which  he  sel- 
dom omitted,  either  in  the  camp  or  the  court;  and,  not- 
withstanding his  continual  wars,  and  unremitted  atten- 
tion to  the  affairs  of  a  great  empire,  he  found  leisure  to 
collect  the  old  French  poems  and  historical  ballads,  with 
a  view  to  illustrate  the  history  ox  the  monarchy.  The  loss 
of  this  collection  is  much  to  be  lamented,  and  could 
never  have  happened,  if  every  one  had  been  as  well  ac- 
quainted with  its  importance  as  Charles.  But  he  was 
the  phcenix  of  his  age;  and,  though  not  altogether  free 
from  its  prejudices,  his  liberal  and  comprehensive  mind, 
which  examined  every  thing,  and  yet  found  time  for  all 
things,  would  have  done  honour  to  the  most  enlightened 
period.  He  was  fond  of  the  company  of  learned  men, 
and  assembled  them  about  him  from  all  parts  of  Europe, 
forming  in  his  palace  a  kind  of  academy,  of  which  he 
himself  condescended  to  become  a  member.  He  also 
established  schools,  in  the  cathedrals  and  principal  abbies, 
for  teaching  writing,  arithmetic,  grammar,  and  church 
music";  certainly  no  very  elevated  sciences,  yet  consi- 
derable at  a  time  when  many  dignified  ecclesiastics  could 
not  subscribe  the  canons  of  those  councils  in  which  they 
sat  as  members'%  and  when  it  was  deemed  a  sufficient 
qualification  for  a  priest  to  be  able  to  read  the  Gospels, 
and  understand  the  Lord's  Prayer^ 

Alcuin,  our  learned  countryman,  was  the  companion, 
and  particular  favourite  of  Charlemagne;  instructed  him 


11.  Id.  ibid.         12.  Ncm.   Traite.  Difilont.         13.  Reg.  Brumier.s.  ap 
Bruck.  Hist.  Philos^ 

in 


68  THE   HISTORY  OF  [fart  i. 

in  the  sciences,  and  was  at  the  head  of  his  Royal 
Academy.  A  circumstance  so  much  to  the  honour  of 
this  island  should  be  omitted  by  no  British  historian. 
Three  rich  abbies  were  the  reward  of  the  learning  and 
talents  of  Alcuin.  This  benevolence  has  been  thought  to 
border  on  profusion;  but  in  that  age  of  darkness,  when 
even  an  enthusiastic  zeal  for  letters  was  a  virtue,  no 
encouragement  could  be  too  great  for  the  illuminators  of 
the  human  mind. 

Had  Charles's  religious  enthusiasm  been  attended 
with  no  worse  consequences  than  his  literary  ardour,  his 
piety  would  have  been  as  deservedly  admired  as  his 
taste.  But  a  blind  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  Christianity, 
which  extinguished  his  natural  feelings,  made  him 
guilty,  as  we  have  already  seen,  of  severities  that  shock 
humanity;  and  a  superstitious  attachment  to  the  see  of 
Rome,  which  mingled  itself  with  his  policy,  led  him  to 
engage  in  theological  disputes  and  quibbles  unworthy  of 
his  character.  The  honours  which  his  father  Pepin 
and  he  owed  to  the  popes  can  only  render  him  in  any 
degree  excusable.  But  although  the  theological  side  of 
Charles's  character  is  by  no  means  the  brightest,  it 
merits  your  attention;  as  it  serves  to  shew  the  prejudices 
of  the  age,  the  littleness  of  a  great  man,  and  the  great 
effects  that  frequently  proceed  from  little  causes. 

As  Charlemagne  was  equally  a  friend  to  religion  and 
letters,  and  as  any  learning  which  yet  remained  among 
mankind,  in  our  quarter  of  the  globe,  was  monopolized 
by  the  clergy,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  obtained 
many  singular  marks  of  his  favour.  Even  the  payment 
of  tithes,  then  considered  as  a  grievous  oppression,  but 
which  he  ordered  as  a  compensation  for  the  lands  with- 
held from  the  church;  and  the  consequence  which  he  gave 
to  church-men,  by  admitting  them  into  the  national 
assemblies,  and  associating  them  along  with  the  counts 
ni  administration  of  justice,  appear  less  extravagant  than 
his  sitting  himself  in  councils  merely  ecclesiastical, 
assembled  about  the  most  frivolous  points  of  a  vain  the- 
ology. 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  69 

ology.  But,  like  some  princes  of  later  himes,  Charles 
seems  to  have  been  ambitious  to  be  considered  not  only 
as  the  protector,  but  the  head  o.f  the  church :  and  his  power 
and  munificence  made  this  usurpatioii  be  overlooked,  not- 
withstanding the  height  at  which  the  papal  dig- 
nity  had  then  arrived.  We  accordingly  find 
him  seated  on  a  throne  in  the  council  of  Frankfort,  with 
one  of  the  pope's  legates  on  each  hand,  and  three  hun- 
dred bishops  waiting  his  nod. 

The  purpose  of  that  council  was  to  examine  the  doc- 
trine of  two  Spanish  bishops;  who  in  order  to  refute  the 
accusation  of  polytheism,  brought  against  the  Christians 
by  the  Jews  and  Mahometans,  maintained  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  son  of  God  only  by  adoption.  The  king 
opened  the  assembly  himself,  and  proposed  the  condem- 
nation of  this  heresy.  The  council  decided  conformably 
to  his  will;  and  in  a  letter  to  the  churches  of  Spain,  m 
consequence  of  that  decision,  Charles  expresses  himself 
in  these  remarkable  words.  "  You  entreat  me  to  judge 
"  of  myself:  I  have  done  so:  I  have  assisted  as  an  audi- 
"  tor,  and  an  arbiter,  in  an  assembly  of  bishops;  v/e  have 
"  examined,  and  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  have  settled, 
"  what  must  be  believed  1"  Neither  Constantine  nor  any 
other  of  the  Greek  emperors,  so  jealous  of  their  theo- 
logical prerogative,  ever  used  a  more  positive  language. 

Charlemagne  went  still  farther  in  the  question  of  ima- 
ges. Leo  IV.  the  son  of  Constantine  Copronymus  as 
zealous  an  image-breaker  as  his  father,  had  banished  his 
wife  Irene,  because  she  hid  images  beneath  her  pillcw. 
This  devout  and  ambitious  princess  coming  afterward  to 
the  government,  during  the  minority  of  her  son  Constan- 
tine Porphyrogenetus,  with  whom  she  was  associated  in 
the  empire,  i-e-established  that  worship  which  she  loved 
from  polic}^  no  less  then  piety.  The  second  council  of 
Nice  accordingly  decreed,  That  we  ought  to  render  to 
images  an  honorarij  worship,  but  not  a  real  adoration, 
which  is  due  to  God  alone.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the   translation  of  the   acts   of  this   council,  which  pope 

Adrian 


70  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Adrian  sent  iilto  France,  was  so  defective,  that  the  sense 

of  the  article  relating  to  images  was  entirely   perverted, 

running  thus;    "  I  receive  and  honour  images  according 

"  to  that  adoration  which  I  pay  to  the  Trinity."  Charles 

was  so  much  incensed  at  this  impiety,  that  he  composed, 

by  the  assistance  of  the  clergy,  and  published  in  his  own 

name,   what  are   called  the   CaroUn  Books,  in  which  the 

Council  of  Nice  is  treated  v/ith  the  utmost  contempt  and 

abuse.      He  sent  these  books  to  Adrian  I.  desiring  him 

to  excommunicate  the  empress  and  her  son.      The  pope 

prudently  excused  himself  on   the  score   of  images,  ma- 

Jking  Charles  sensible  of  the  mistake  upon  which  he  had 

proceeded;  but  he  insinuated  at  the   same  time,  that  he 

would  declare  Irene  and  Constantine  heretics,  unless  they 

restored  certain  lands,  which  had  belonged  to  the  church: 

artfully  hinting  at  certain  projects,  which  he  had  formed 

for  the  exaltation  of  the  Roman   church  and  the  French 

monarchy  ■^.      The   exaltation  of  the   monarchy  was   at 

hand,   though   Adrian  did  not  live  to  be  the  instrument 

ofit. 

Leo  III.  who  succeeded  Adrian  in  the  papacy,  sent 

^^^  immediately  to  Charlemagne  the  standard  of 
A.  D.  796.  „  ,-'.,,  ° 

Rome,  beggmg  him  to  send  some  person  to  re- 
ceive the  oath  of  fidelity  from  the  Romans,^;  a  most  flat- 
tering instance  of  submission,  as  well  as  a  proof  that  the 
sovereignty  of  Rome,  at  that  time,  belonged  to  the  kings 
of  France.  Three  years  after,  Pascal  and  Campule,  two 
nephews  of  the  late  pope  not  only  offered  themselves  as 

accusers  of  Leo,  but  attacked  him  in  the  public 

A     D     79*-) 

streets;  wounded  him  in  several  places,  and 
dragged  him  half  dead  into  the  church  of  St.  Mark.  He 
made  his  escape  by  the  assistance  of  some  friends;  and 
the  duke  of  Spoleto,  general  of  the  French  forces,  sent 
him  under  an  escort  to  Charlemagne.  Charles  received 
him  with  all  possible  marks  of  respect,   sent  him  back 

H.  FJfmens  d'Nht.  Gen.  par  M.  Abbe  Millot,  part  II.  torn  i. 
15.  Egiiihard  in  V it. car    Mag. 

with 


iET.  IX.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  71 

with  a  numerous   retinue  of  guards  and  attendants,    and 

went  soon  after  to  Italy  in  person  to  do  him  justice"'. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  French  monarch  at  Rome,    he 

spent  six  days  in  private  conferences  with  the 

r  1  •    1     1  ,     J     ^       I  •    1  A.    D.    800. 

pope;  alter  which  he  convoked  the   bishops 

and  nobles,  to   examine  the  accusation  brought  against 

the  pontiff.     "  The  apostolic  see,"  exclaimed  the  bishops, 

*'  cannot  be  judged  by  man!"    Leo,  however,    spoke  to 

the  accusation:  he  said  the  king  came  to  hioxo  the  cause; 

and,  no  proof  appearing  against  him,  he  purged  himself 

by  oath. 

The  trial  of  a  pope  was  doubtless  an  uncommon 
scene,  but  one  soon  followed  yet  more  extraordinary. 
On  Christmas-day,  as  the  king  assisted  at  mass  in  St. 
Peter's  church,  in  the  midst  of  the  ecclesiastical  cere- 
monies, and  while  he  was  on  his  knees  before  the  altar, 
the  supreme  pontiff  advanced,  and  put  an  imperial  crown 
upon  his  head.  As  soon  as  the  people  perceived  it,  they 
cried,  "  Long  life  and  victory  to  Charles  Augustus, 
"  crowned  by  the  hand  of  God! — Long  live  the  great 
"  and  pious  emperor  of  the  Romans."  During  these 
acclamations,  the  pope  conducted  him  to  a  magnificent 
throne,  which  had  been  prepared  for  the  purpose;  and, 
as  soon  as  he  was  seated,  paid  him  those  honours  which 
his  predecessors  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the  Ro- 
man emperors,  declaring  that,  instead  of  the  title  of 
Patrician,  he  should  henceforth  style  him  Emperor  and 
Augustus.  Leo  now  presented  him  with  the  imperial 
mantle;  with  which  being  invested,  Charles  returned 
amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  populace,  to  his  palace'^. 

The  pope  had  surely  no  right  to  proclaim  an  emperor; 
but  Charles  was  worthy  of  the  imperial  ensigns:  and 
although  he  cannot  properly  be  ranked  among  the  succes- 
sors of  Augustus,  he  is  justly  considered  as  the  founder 
of  the  New  Empire  of  the  West. 

J 
16.  Anast.  In  Vit.  Leon.  17.  Id.  ib.  E2inhard,  in  Annal. 

Charlemagne 


72  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Charlemagne  was  no  sooner  proclaimed  emperor  than 
his  title  was  universally  acknowledged;  and  he  received 
several  embassies,  which  must  have  given  him  high  satis- 
faction, as  they  did  equal  honour  to  the  prince  and  the 
men.  Irene,  empress  of  the  East,  the  most  artful  and 
ambitious  woman  of  her  time,  who  had  deposed  her  son 
Constantine,  that  she  might  reign  alone,  made  the  new 
emperor  a  proposal  of  marriage.  This  proposal  was 
made  with  a  view  to  secure  her  Italian  dominions,  which 
she  was  informed  Charles  intended  to  seize;  and  the 
marriage-treat}'  was  actually  concluded,  when  Nicephorus 
the  patrician  conspired  against  Irene,  banished  her  to  the 
island  of  Lesbos,  and  ascended  the  imperial  throne. 
Nicephorus  also  fearing  the  power  of  Charles,  sent  am- 
bassadors to  him  under  the  title  of  Augustus.  ^^^ 

rrn,  ,      ,     1         T-      •  r     1  •  A.    D.    802. 

They  settled  the  limits  oi  the  two  empires, 
by  a  new  treaty;  according  to  which,  Calabria,  Sicily, 
the  sea  coast  of  !^^aples,  Dalmatia,  and  Venice,  were 
to  continue  under  the  dominion  of  the  emperors  of  Con- 
stantinople'^. This  treaty  proves,  that  the  Venetians 
were  not  yet  altogether  independent;  but  they  aspired  at 
independency,  and  soon  deservedly  obtained  it. 

The  renown  of  Charles  extended  even  into  Asia, 
He  kept  a  correspondence  with  the  famous  Harun-al- 
Raschid,  the  tAventy-fifth  calif,  and  one  of  those  who 
contributed  most  to  enlighten  and  polish  the  Arabs. 
This  prince  valued  the  friendship  of  Charlemagne  above 
that  of  all  other  potentates;  as  a  proof  of  which  he 
complimented  him  with  an  embassy  soon  after  he  was 
proclaimed  emperor,  and  ceded  to  him,  if  not  the  lord- 
ship of  Jerusalem,  as  some  authors  affirm,  at  least  the 
holy  places  in  that  city,  whither  devotion  already  led  a 
great  number  of  Christians.  Among  the  presents  which 
the  ambassadors  of  Al-Raschid  brought  into  France  was 
a  striking  clock,  the  first  ever  seen  in  that  kingdom;  for 
notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Charlemagne  to  enlighten 

18.  Eginhard  in  Vit.  Car.  Mag.  Adon.  Cbroii.  Theoph.  Cbroiwgraphia 

his 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  f3 

his  nation,  the  scholars  of  his  court  were  by  no  means 
equal  to  those  of  the  calif's  in  knowledge,  nor  his  peo- 
ple in  the  arts,  either  liberal  or  mechanical.  The  Araba 
might  then  have  been  preceptors  to  all  Europe. 

I  must  here  say  a  few  words  of  this  surprising 
phenomenon. 

The  Abassides  having  ascended  the  throne  of  Maho- 
met, transferred  the  seat  of  the  califat  from  Damascus 
to  Caffa,  and  afterwards  to  Bagdad,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris.  Thither  the  calif  Al-Mansur  attracted  the  arts 
and  sciences.  The  Greeks  had  furnished  ideas,  and 
communicated  taste  to  their  barbarous  conquerors;  a 
species  of  triumph  reserved  for  civilized  nations,  even 
in  a  state  of  servitude.  Al-Mohdi,  successor  of  Al- 
JMansur,  cultivated  these  precious  seeds;  and  Al-Raschid, 
successor  of  Al-Mohdi,  augmented  their  fecundity  by 
his  knowledge  and  attention,  being  equally  liberal  and 
enlightened.  Under  Al-Mamun,  Al-Motasem,  Al- 
Watheck,  and  their  immediate  successors,  the  sciences 
flourished  still  more;  but,  at  length,  dissensions  and  civil 
wars  robbed  the  Arabs,  in  their  turn,  of  the  fruits  of 
genius  and  the  lights  of  learning,  which  are  almost  insepa- 
rable from  public  tranquillity. 

In  all  nations  the  same  revolutions  are  produced  by 
the  same  causes.  Nothing  merits  your  attention  more  in 
the  study  of  history. 

One  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  fall  of  empires  has 
ever  been,  but  more  especially  in  modern  times,  the 
error  of  dividing  the  same  monarchy  among  different 
princes.  The  custom  was  established  before  Charle- 
magne: he  followed  it  by  a  testamentary  divi- 
sion  of  his  dominions,  among  his  three  sons, 
Charles,  Pepin,  and  Lewis.  The  particulars  of  this 
division  are  of  little  consequence,  as  Lewis  only  sur- 
vived his  father.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  observe, 
that  the  Italian  provinces  were  assigned  to  Pepin;  a 
donation  which  was  confirmed  to  his  son  Bernard,  with 
the  title    of  king  of  Italy,  and  proved  the  ruin  of  that 

VOL.  I.  p  prince, 


r4  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

prince,   as   well  as  the  cause  of  much  disturbance  to  the 
empire. 

In  the  meantime,  the  emperor  was  threatened  by  a 
new  enemy,  and  the  most  formidable  he  had  ever  en- 
countered. The  Normans,  as  the  French  call  them,  or 
the  inhabitants  of  the  great  northern  peninsula  of  Europe, 
(whom  I  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  more  particu- 
larly to  mention)  had  long  harassed  the  coasts  of  his 
extensive  donvinions  with  their  robberies  and  piracies; 
and  notwithstanding  the  wise  measures  of  Charles,  who 
created  a  powerful  marine,  and  took  every  other  precau- 
tion against  their  ravages,  they  not  only  continued  their 

depredations,  but  made  a  formal  descent   in 
A    D    808  . 

Friezland,  under  Godfrey  their  king,   laying 

every  thing  waste  before  them.  Charles  assembled  all 
his  forces  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Rhine,  and 
was  preparing  for  a  decisive  battle,  which  might  per- 
haps have  terminated  the  empire  of  the  Franks,  as 
Godfrey  was  not  inferior  to  the  emperor  either  in  val- 
our or  military  skill,  and  had  a  numerous  body  of  fear- 
less adventurers  under  his  command.  But  the  issue  of 
this  battle  was  prevented  by  the  death  of  the  Norman 
prince,  who  was  assassinated  by  one  of  his  followers. 
His  forces  were  immediately  re-embarked,  and  a  peace 
was  afterwards  concluded  with  his  son  '^ 

The  satisfaction  which  Charles  must  have  received 
from  this  deliverance,  and  the  general  tranquillity  which 
he  now  enjoyed,  was  more  than  balanced  by  his  domes- 
tic misfortunes.  He  lost  his  favourite  daughter  Rotrude 
(for  whom  he  is  supposed  to  have  felt  more  than  a  fa- 
therly aftection,)  his  son  Pepin,  and  his  son  Charles. 
Soon  after  the  death  of  Charles  he  associated 
his  son  Lewis  with  him  in  the  empire.  The 
ceremony  was  very  solemn.  As  if  this  great  man  had 
foreseen  the  usurpations  of  the  church,  he  placed  the  im- 
perial crown  upon  the  altar,  and  ordered  the  prince  to  lift 

19.  Adon.  Chron.  Egiiibard.  in  Fit.  Car.  Mag^ 

it, 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  7S 

it,  and  set  it  on  his  own  head*":  intimating  thereby,  that 
he  held  it  only  of  God. 

The  emperor  died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  his  usual  resi- 
dence, intheseventy-firstyear  of  his  ageandthe 
forty-seventh  of  his  reign.  The  glory  of  the 
French  empire  seemed  to  expire  with  him.  He  posses- 
sed all  France,  all  Germany,  part  of  Hungary,  part  of 
Spain,  the  Low  Countries,  and  the  continent  of  Italy  as 
far  as  Benevento*'.  But  to  govern  such  an  extent  of  terri- 
tory, a  monarch  must  be  endowed  with  the  genius  of  a 
Charlemagne. 


LETTER  X. 


-«MPIRE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE  AND  THE  CHURCH,  FROM  THE  AC- 
CESSION OF  HIS  SON,  LEWIS  THE  DEBONNAIRE,  TO  THB 
DEATH    OF   CHARLES   THE     BALD. 


X  HE  history  of  Europe,  for  several  ages  after 
the  death  of  Charlemagne,  is  little  more  than  a  catalogue 
of  crimes,  and  a  register  of  the  debasing  effects  of  igno- 
rance and  superstition.  His  empire  soon  experienced 
the  fate  of  Alexander's.  It  had  quickly  attained  its  height; 
and  yet,  while  animated  by  the  superior  genius  of  Charles, 
it  possessed  a  surprising  degree  of  strength  and  harmony. 
But  these  not  being  natural  to  the  feudal  system,  the  dis- 
cordant elements  began  to  separate  under  his  son  Lewis 
the  Dcbonnaire,  so  called  on  account  of  the  gentleness  of 
his  manners;  and  that  vast  body,  no  longer  informed  by 

20.  Vit.  LuJovici  Pit.  21.  Eginhard,  ubi  aup. 

the 


rs  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  same  spirit,  was  in  a  short  time  entirely  dismembei-- 
ed. 

Lewis,  though  a  prince  of  some  abilities,  was  unable 
to  support  so  great  a  weight  of  empire ;  and  his  piety  and 
parental  fondness,  however  amiable  in  themselves,  en- 
feebled a  character  already  too  weak,  and  an  authority 
never  respected.  He  rendered  himself  odious  to  the  clergy 
by  attempting  to  reform  certain  abuses,  without  foreseeing 
that  this  powerful  body  would  not  pay  the  same  submis- 
sion they  had  yielded  to  the  superior  capacity  of  his  fa- 
ther. More  religious  than  political,  he  spent  less  time 
in  settling  the  affairs  of  his  empire  than  those  of  his  soul; 
ignorant  that  true  religion  consists  in  fulfilling  the  duties 
of  our  station,  and  that  the  practices  of  the  cloister  are 
improperly  associated  with  the  functions  of  the  throne. 
But  his  greatest  error  was  occasioned  by  his  paternal  af- 
fection, and  a  blind  imitation  of  his  father's  example,  in 
dividing  his  dominions  among  his  children. 
Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  as- 
sociated his  eldest  son  Lothario  with  him  in  the  empire; 
he  created  Pepin  king  of  Aquitaine;  Lewis,  of  Bavaria: 
and  after  the  ceremony  of  coronation  was  over,  he  sent 
them  to  the  government  of  their  respective  kingdoms'. 

Bernard,  king  of  Italy,  the  grandson  of  Charlemagne, 
was  offended  at  that  division.  He  thought  his  right  to 
the  empire  superior  to  Lothario's,  as  his  father  Pepin  was 
the  elder  bi-other  of  Lewis.  The  archbishops  of  Milan 
and  Cremona  flattered  him  in  his  pretensions:  he  revol- 
•ted,  and  levied  war  against  his  uncle,  in  contempt  of  the 
imperial  authority,  to  which  his  crown  was  subject.  Lewis 
acted  on  this  occasion  with  more  vigour  than  either  his 
friends  or  his  enemies  expected;  he  immediately  raised 
a  powerful  army,  and  was  preparing  to  cross  the  Alps, 
when  Bernard  was  abandoned  by  his  troops.  That  un- 
fortunate prince  was  made  prisoner,  and  condemned  to 


Ni^iard  de  Ditsentionibut  Filiorum.  Ludovici  Pit. 

lose 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  77 

lose  his  head;  but  his  uncle,  by  a  singular 
kind  of  lenity,  mitigated  the  sentence  to  the 
loss  of  his  eyes.  He  died  three  days  after  the  punish- 
ment was  inflicted:  and  Lewis,  to  prevent  future  trou- 
bles, ordered  three  natural  sons  of  Charlemagne  to  be  sha- 
ved, and  shut  up  in  a  convent*. 

In  consequence  of  these  rigours,  the  Emperor  was 
seized  v/ithkeen  remorse;  accusing  himself  of  the  mur- 
der of  his  nephew,  and  of  tyrannic  cruelty  to  his  brothers 
inhumanly  secluded  from  the  world.  He  was  encouraged 
by  the  monks  in  this  melancholy  humour;  which  at  last 
grew  to  such  a  height,  that  he  impeached  himself  in  an 
assembly  of  the  states,  and  begged  the  bishops  to  en- 
join him  public  penance^.  The  clergy  now  sensible  of 
Lewis's  weakness,  set  no  bounds  to  their  usurpations. 
The  popes  thought  they  might  do  any  thing  under  so 
pious  a  prince;  they  did  not  wait  for  the  emperor's  con- 
firmation of  their  election,  but  immediately  assumed  the 
tiara,  and  were  guilty  of  every  other  irregularity.  The 
bishops  exalted  themselves  above  the  throne,  and  the 
whole  fraternity  of  the  church  claimed  an  exemption 
from  all  civil  jurisdiction.  Even  that  set  of  men  who 
pretend  to  renounce  the  world,  the  monks,  seemed  to  as- 
pire at  the  government  of  it. 

Lewis,  by  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  who  were  de- 
sirous to  divert  himfromhis  monastic  habits,  had  married 
a  second  wife,  whose  name  was  Judith,  descended  from 
one  of  the  noblest  families  in  Bavaria,  and  distinguished 

both  by  her  mental  and  personal  qualities.  That 

I  u.  u-  f  II  A.  D.  824. 

prmcess  brought  him  a  son,  afterwards  known 

by  the  name  of  Charles  the  Bald,  whose  birth  was  the 

occasion  of  much  joy,  but  proved  eventually  the  cause  of 

many  sorrows.     For  this  son  there  was  no  inheritance, 

the  imperial  dominions  being  already  divided  among  the 

children  of  the  first  marriage.     The  empress,  who  had 

2.  Vit.  Lud.  Pii.     3.  Theogan.  de.  Rek  Gest.  Lud.  Pii. 

gained 


78  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

gained  a  great  ascendency  over  her  husband,  therefore, 
pressed  Lewis  to  place  her  son  Charles  on  a  footing  with 
his  other  children,  by  a  new  division  of  the  empire"^. 
Aquitaine  and  Bavaria  were  small  kingdoms,  from  them 
nothing  could  be  expected;  but  Lothario's  share  was 
large,  and  might  spare  a  little.  Sensible  of  the  wishes 
of  his  indulgent  father,  and  prevailed  on  by  the  entrea- 
ties of  this  fond  mother,  Lothario  consented  that  some 
provision  should  accordingly  be  made  for  his  bro- 
ther Charles.    But  he  soon  repented  of  his  too 

A,  D. 829 
easy  concession,  and  the  three  brothers  joined 

in  a  rebellion  against  their  father^,  the  most  singular 
circumstance  perhaps,  to  be  met  with  in  history. 

These  disorders  were  fostered  by  Walla,  abbot  of 
Corbie,  a  monk  of  high  birth,  who  had  formerly  been  iii 
the  confidence  of  Lewis,  but  was  now  in  disgrace.  He 
declaimed  against  the  court,  and  against  the  empress  in 
particular,  accusing  her  of  an  adulterous  commerce  with 

^^^    count    Bernard,    the    prime    minister.       His 
A.  D.  830.  J  J       -ru  u 

schemes  succeeded.  Ihe  emperor  was  aban- 
doned by  his  army,  and  made  prisoner,  along  with  his 
wife  Judith,  and  her  son  Charles.  The  Empress  was 
shut  up  in  a  cloister,  and  Lewis  himself  would  have  been 
obliged  to  take  the  monastic  habit,  had  it  not  been  suppo- 
sed that  he  would  make  a  voluntary  resignation  of  his 
crown.  He  had  the  courage,  however,  to  insist  on  the 
rectitude  of  his  intentions  while  he  acknowledged  his 
errors,  and  promised  to  act  with  more  circumspection  in 
future.  The  nobility  pitied  their  humbled  sovereign;  and 
by  the  intrigues  of  the  monk  Gombaud,  who  sowed  dis- 
sentions  among  thebrothers,  Lewis  was  rcstoredto  his  dig- 
nity, and  seemingly  reconciled  with  his  family^. 

The  first  use  that  the  emperor  made  of  his  liberty,  was 
to  recall  his  consort  to  court;  though  not  without  the 
permission  of  the  pope,  as  she  had  formally  taken  the 
veil.      Bernard  was  also  recalled,  and  Walla  banished; 

4.  Vit.  Lud.  Fit.        S.  Nithard.  ubi  sop.        6.  Thcogan:  de  Qest.  Lud.  PH. 

yet 


tET.  X.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  r9 

yet  Lewis  did  not  long  enjoy  either  peace  or  tranquillity. 
The  monk  Gombaud  thought  he  had  a  right  to  be  prime 
minister,  as  the  reward  of  his  services;  and  as  women 
generally  repay  flattery  with  favour,  they  as  generally  re- 
serve vengeance  for  insult:  the  empress  brought  her  ani- 
mosities alonir  with  her,     Walla's  friends  were 

Ad   832 
persecuted,  and  Lothario  was  deprived  of  the 

title  of  emperor,  that  the  succession  might  be  reserved 
for  young  Charles.  The  three  brothers  again  associated 
themselves  in  a  league  against  their  father^.  Count  Ber- 
nard, dissatisfied  with  his  master's  conduct,  joined  the 
rebels;  and  Gregory  IV.  then  pope,  went  to  France  in 
the  army  of  Lothario,  under  pretence  of  accommodating 
matters,  but  really  with  an  intention  to  employ  against 
the  emperor  that  power  which  he  derived  from  him,  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  assert  the  supremacy  and  indepen- 
dency of  the  holy  see 

The  presence  of  the  pope,  in  those  days  of  supersti- 
tion, was  of  itself  sufficient  to  determine  the  fate  of  Lewis. 
Aftera  deceitfulnegociation,  andan  interviewwith  Grego- 
ry on  the  part  of  Lothario,  the  unfortunate  emperor  found 
himself  abandoned  by  his  army,  and  at  the  mercy  of  his 
rebellious  sons.  He  was  deposed  in  a  tumul- 
tuous  assembly  held  on  the  spot,  and  Lothario 
proclaimed  in  his  stead^.  After  that  infamous  transac- 
tion the  pope  returned  to  Rome. 

In  order  to  give  permanency  to  this  revolution,  as 
well  as  to  apologize  for  their  own  conduct,  the  bishops  of 
Lothario's  faction  bethought  themselves  of  an  artifice, 
like  that  which  had  been  made  use  of  to  degrade  king 
Wamba  in  Spain.  "  A  penitent,"  said  they,  ''  is  incapa- 
"  ble  of  all  civil  offices  ;  a  royal  penitent  must  then  be  in- 
"  capable  of  reigning;  let  us  subject  Lewis  to  a  perpetu- 
*'  al  penance,  and  he  can  never  ascend  the  throne."  He 
was  accordingly  arraigned  in  the  assembly  of  the  states,  by 
Ebbo,  archbishop  of  Rheims  (who  had  been  raised  by  his 

7.  Nithard.  dt  D'ussnt.  FlUor.  Lud.  PH.      8.  Theogan.  dt  Gest.  Lud.  PU. 

bounty 


80  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

bounty  from  the  condition  of  a  slave,)  and  condemned  to 
do  penance  for  life'^. 

Lewis  was  then  a  prisoner  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Medard,  at  Soissons;  and  being  much  intimidated,  he 
patiently  submitted  to  a  ceremony  no  less  solemn  than 
debasing.  He  prostrated  himself  on  an  hair-cloth,  which 
was  spread  before  the  altar,  and  owned  himself  guiltv  of 
the  charge  brought  against  him,  in  the  presence  of  many 
bishops,  canons,  and  monks;  Lothario  being  also  present 
in  order  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  his  father's  humiliation. 
But  this  acknowledgement  was  not  enough:  they  gave 
him  a  written  confession  to  read  aloud,  in  which  he  is 
made  to  accuse  himself  of  sacrilege  and  murder,  and  to 
number  among  his  crimes  the  marching  of  troops  in 
Lent,  calling  an  assembly  on  Holy  Thursdaj^,  and  taking 
arms  to  defend  himself  against  his  rebellious  children! 
for  superstition  can  transform  into  crimes  the  most  inno- 
cent and  even  the  most  necessary  actions.  After  having 
finished  his  confession,  this  unhappy  prince,  by  order  of 
the  ungrateful  archbishop,  laid  aside  his  sword  and  belt, 
divested  himself  of  the  royal  robes,  put  on  the  penitential 
sackcloth,  and  had  a  cell  assigned  him'°. 

but  the  feelings  of  nature,  and  the  voice  of  humanity, 
prevailed  over  the  prejudices  of  the  age,  and  the  policy 
of  the  clergy.  Lothario  was  universally  abhorred,  and 
his  father  no  less  generally  pitied;  his  two  brothers  uni- 
ted against  him,  in  behalf  of  that  father  whom  they  had 

,    contributed  to  humble.     The  nobility  returned 
A.  D    834 

to  their  obedience;  they  paid  homage  to  Lew- 
is, as  their  lawful  sovereign;  and  the  ambitious  Lothario 
was  obliged  to  crave  mercy,  in  the  sight  of  the  whole  ar- 
my, at  the  feet  of  a  father  and  an  emperor,  whom  he 
had  lately  insulted  in  the  habit  of  a  penitent".  He  re- 
ceived it,  and  was  permitted  to  retain  the  kingdom  of 
Ital)^ 

9.  Id.  ibid.      10.  Jet.  Exavet.  Lud.  Fit.     11.  Nithard  de  Dissent.  Lud.  PH. 

Lewis 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  «l 

Lewis  immediately  demanded  absolution  (such  was 
his  weakness!)  and  an  assembly  held  at  Tliionville  for- 
mally restored  him  to  his  dignity,  declaring  void  every 
thing  that  had  been  done  at  Soissons.  He  might  now 
have  ended  his  days  in  peace,  but  for  the  intrigues  of 
the  empress  Judith;  who,  still  ambitious  of  the  aggran- 
dizement of  her  son  Charles,  again  entered  into  a  nego- 
ciation  with  Lothario,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his 
brother  Pepin.  An  assembly  was  held  at 
Worms,  to  which  he  was  invited.  His  father 
received  him  kindly,  the  empress  loaded  him  with  cares- 
ses. The  kingdom  of  Neustria  had  lately  been  added 
to  the  dominions  originally  assigned  her  son:  and  the 
object  of  all  these  intrigues  was  to  engage  Lothario  in 
a  scheme  by  which  Charles  should  also  become  possess- 
ed of  the  kingdom  of  Aquitaine,  at  the  expense  of  Pe- 
pin's children.  Lothario  assented  to  what  he  was  not  in 
a  condition  to  dispute.  But  Lewis,  king  of  Bavaria, 
though  not  injured  by  this  new  division  of  the  empire, 
was  so  much  incensed  at  its  injustice,  as  he  pretended, 
that  he  assembled  the  whole  force  of  his  dominions. 
His  father  marched  against  him,  but  was  sud- 
denly taken  ill;  and  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  hap- 
pening at  the  same  time,  the  superstitious  old  man  had 
the  vanity  to  think,  that  Heaven  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  foretel  to  mankind  the  death  of  a  prince  whose  very 
virtues  dishonoured  the  throne  and  who  should  never 
have  stirred  beyond  the  walls  of  a  cloister.  He  there- 
fore repeatedly  received  the  communion,  and  scarce  any 
other  nourishment,  till  his  piety  fulfilled  the  prediction 
which  his  folly  had  suggested'-. 

Lewis  died  near  Mentz,  in  the  seventy-second  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  twenty-eighth  of  his  reign.  He  left 
a  crown,  a  sceptre,  and  a  very  rich  sword,  to  Lothario, 
by  which  it  was  supposed  he  also  left  him  the  empire,  on 


12.  Vit.  Lud.  Pit.  Annul.  Bertiniani.     Theogan.  de  Gest.  Lud.  PH. 

VOL.  I.  Q.  condition 


82  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

condition  that  he  should  fulfil  his  engagements  to  the 
empress  and  her  son  Charles.  His  brother,  the  bishop 
of  Mentz,  observing  that  he  had  left  nothing  to  his  son 
Lewis,  then  in  arms  against  him,  reminded  him  that  for- 
giveness at  least,  was  his  duty.  "  Yes,  I  forgive  himl" 
cried  the  dying  monarch  with  much  emotion;"  but  tell  him 
"  from  me,  to  seek  forgiveness  also  of  God,  for  bringing 
*'  my  grey  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave'^" 

A  bad  son,  my  dear  Philip,  is  not  likely  to  make  a 
good  brother;  for  the  natural  feelings  in  the  second  re- 
lation are  necessarily  weaker  than  in  the  first:  you  must 
therefore  expect  to  see  the  sons  of  Lewis  the  Debonnaire 
armed  gainst  each  other.  No  sooner  was  Lothario  infor- 
med of  his  father's  death,  than  he  considered  himself  as 
emperor  in  the  most  extensive  sense  of  the  word,  and  re- 
solved to  make  himself  master  of  the  whole  imperial  do- 
minions, regardless  of  his  engagements  with  Judith  and 
her  son  Charles  the  Bald,  or  the  right  of  his  brother  Lewis 
to  the  kingdom  of  Bavaria.  And  he  seemed  likely  to  at- 
tain the  object  of  his  ambition.  He  was  a  prince  of  great 
subtlety  and  address,  could  wear  the  complexion  of  the 
times,  and  was  possessed  of  an  extensive  territory,  beside 
the  title  of  emperor,  which  was  still  much  respected;  he 
therefore  assured  himself  of  success  against  his  brothers; 
Charles  being  only  a  youth  of  seventeen,  under  the  tuition 
of  his  mother,  and  Lewis  a  prince  of  no  high  reputation. 
He  was  deceived,  however,  in  his  conjectures.   These  two 

princes,  united  bv^  a  sense  of  common  interest, 
A   D    841.  '  .     . 

gave   him  battle   at   Fontenai,  m    Burgundy, 

where  fraternal  hatred  appeared  in  all  its  horrors.  Few 
engagements  have  been  so  bloody.  An  hundred  thousand 
men  are  said  to  have  fallen  on  the  spot.  Lothario  and 
his  nephew  Pepin  (who  had  joined  him  to  assert  his  right 
to  the  crown  of  Aquitaine)  were  totally  defeated  ''.  Pepin 
fled  to  Aquitaine,  and  Lothario  towards  Italy,  abandon- 
ing France  to  the  victorious  army. 

13.  Vit.  Lud.  Ph.  14.  Kithard  de  Disstnt.  Lud.  PH. 

Nothing 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  83 

Nothing  now  remained  for  Lewis  and  Charles  but  to 
secure  their  conquests.  For  this  purpose  they  applied 
to  the  clergy;  and  with  hopes  so  much  the  better  founded, 
that  Lothario,  in  order  to  raise  troops  with  more  expe- 
dition, had  promised  the  Saxons  the  liberty  of  renoun- 
cing Christianity;  or  in  other  words,  liberty  of  conscience, 
a  thing  held  in  abhorrence  by  the  church  of  Rome.  Se- 
veral bishops  assembled  at  Aix-la-Chapelle;  and,  after 
examining  the  misconduct  of  the  emperor,  asked  the  two 
princes,  whether  they  chose  to  follow  his  example,  or 
govern  according  to  the  laws  of  God.  Their  answer  may 
easily  be  imagined.  "  Receive  then  the  kingdom  by 
"  the  divine  authority,"  added  the  prelates:  we  exhort 
you,  we  command  you  to  receive  it  T^" 

This  command  would  have   taken  effect  in  its  most 
extensive  meaning,  if  Lothario  had  respected  it  as  much 

as   his  brothers.      But  that  artful   prince   bv 

f  ,  .     .     1   ,  .      .u     c  J  A.  D.  842. 

means  or  his  mdulgence  to  the  baxons,  and 

other  political  expedients,  was  enabled  to  set  on  foot  a 
new  army.  He  became  again  formidable.  The  two  vic- 
torious princes  therefore  thought  it  adviseable  to  nego- 
ciate  with  him.  By  a  new  treaty  of  division,  he  was 
left  in  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  with  the  im- 
perial dignity,  and  the  countries  situated  between  the 
Rhone  and  the  Alps,  the  Meuse  and  the  Rhine.  Charles 
retained  Neustria  and  Aquitaine;  and  Lewis,  afterwards 
styled  the  German,  had  all  the  provinces  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Rhine,  and  some  cities  on  this  side  of  it'''. 

The  extinction  of  the  civil  war  made  but  one  evil 
less  in  the  empi're  of  Charlemagne,  ravaged  in  different 
parts  by  the  Normans,  and  by  the  Saracens,  who  pillaged 
Italy.  The  turbulent  independency  of  the  nobles,  ac- 
customed during  the  last  reign  to  despise  the  prince  and 
the  laws,  the  discontents  of  the  clergy,  and  the  ambitious 
projects  of  both,  were  the  source  of  new  troubles.  Every 

15.  Id,  ibid.  Annal.  Meter*.  16.  Nithaid.  ubi  sup. 

thin^ 


84  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

thing  threatened  the  most  fatal  revolutions,  every  thing 
tended  to  anarchy. 

In  order  to  lessen  these  evils,  the  three  brothers  en- 
tered into  an  association,  the  effect  of  weakness  more  than 
affection,  by  which  the  enemies  of  one  were  to  be  consi- 
dered as  the  enemies  of  all,  (so  low  was  the  empire  of 
the  great  Charles?)  and  in  an  assembly  held 
at  Mersen  on  the  Meuse,  they  settled  certain 
contitutions  relative  to  the  succession,  and  other  public 
matters.  By  these  it  was  established.  That  the  children  of 
the  reigning  prince,  whether  of  age  or  underage,  should 
succeed  to  his  dominions,  and  owe  nothing  to  the  other 
princes  of  the  monarchy  but  the  respect  due  to  the  ties 
of  blood^;  a  regulation  well  calculated  to  prevent  civil 
wars,  though  it  proved  ineffectual  in  those  disorderly 
times.  But  other  constitutions  of  the  assembly  at  Mer- 
sen tended  to  enfeeble  the  royal  authority,  which  had 
already  but  too  much  need  of  support.  They  provide, 
That  the  crown  vassals  shall  no  longer  be  obliged  to  fol- 
low the  king,  unless  in  general  wars,  occasioned  by  for- 
eign invasions ;  and  that  every  freeman  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  chuse,  whether  he  will  be  the  vassal  of  the  king  or 
of  a  subject'^.  The  first  of  these  regulations  increased 
the  independency  of  the  crown  vassals,  and  the  second 
their  power,  by  augmenting  the  number  of  their  retain- 
ers; for  many  persons  chose  rather  to  depend  upon  some 
neighbouring  nobleman,  whose  immediateprotection  they 
might  claim  (at  a  time  when  protection  was  necessary, 
independent  of  the  laws)  than  on  the  sovereign,  whose 
attention  they  had  less  reason  to  expect,  and  whose  aid 
was  more  distant  or  doubtful. 

Lothario  some  years  after,  took  the  habit  of  a  monk, 
that  according  to  the  language  of  those  times,  he  might 
atone  for  his  crimes:  and  though  he  had  lived  a  tyrant, 
die  a  saint.  In  this  pious  disguise  he  expired  before  he 
had  worn  it  quite  a  week.      He  had  divided  his  domini- 

17.  ^nna/.  Bertiniani.  18.  Ibid. 

ons 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  85 

ons  amonff  h'i3  children:  and  by  virtue  of  the 

°,,  1  •I  ,    ,  A.  D.  855. 

treaty    or   Mersen,    they    quietly   succeeded 

to  their  allotments.  Lewis  had  Italy,  with  the  title  of 
emperor;  Lothario  the  provinces  between  the  Rhone, 
the  Soan,  the  Meuse,  the  Escaut,  and  the  Rhine,  called 
from  his  own  name  the  kingdom  of  Lotharingia,  and  by 
corruption  Lorrain.  Charles  had  Provence,  Dauphine, 
and  part  of  Burgundy.  He  took  the  title  of  king  of  Pro- 
vence. One  might  have  imagined  there  were  now  kings 
enough  in  this  monarchy;  yet  Charles  the  Balci  declared 
his  infant  son  king  of  Aquitaine'9. 

Thus  was  the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  split  by  con- 
tinual subdivisions,  the  source  of  perpetual  wars,  till  it 
became,  to  use  the  language  of  Shakespeare,  only  "  a 
*'  stage  to  feed  contention  on."  Foreign  invasions  conspi- 
red with  civil  dissensions  to  spread  terror  and  disorder  in 
every  quarter;  but  more  especially  through  the  dominions 
of  Charles  the  Bald,  a  prince  as  weak  as  his  father,  and 
restless  as  his  mother.  The  Normans  carried  fire  and 
sword  into  the  heart  of  his  kingdom;  to  Rouen,  and 
even  to  the  gates  of  Paris.  Young  Pepin,  son  of  the 
last  king  of  Aquitaine,  joined  the  invaders,  and  ravaged 
that  country  over  which  he  had  been  born  to  reign.  No- 
menoe,  duke  of  Bretagne,  usurped  the  title  of  king, 
which  Charles  was  obliged  to  confirm  to  his  son  Heris- 
pee,  by  whom  he  had  been  totally  defeated.  The  spirit 
of  revolt  became  every  day  more  general.  Some  factious 
nobles  invited  Lewis  the  German  to  usurp  his  brother's 
kingdom.  He  came  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army, 
and  received  the  homage  of  the  principal  no- 
bility. Venilon,  archbishop  of  Sens,  and  other 
prelates  of  Lewis's  party,  at  the  same  time  declared 
that  Charles  had  forfeited  his  dignity  by  mal-administra- 
tion  and  crowned  his  brother  the  German'". 

Charles,  however,  recovered  his  kingdom  as  quickly 
as  he  had  lost  it.     The  prelates  of  his  party  excommu- 

*9.  Annal.  Fuldens.      20.  Annal.  Bertiniani.     Concil.   Gal.  torn.  ii. 

nicated 


W  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

nicated  those  who  had  dethroned  him,  which  brought 
the  rebels  into  contempt,  and  even  abhorrence.  Lewis 
sent  back  his  army  into  Germany,  that  he  might  not  give 
umbrage  to  the  French,  and  he  was  afterwards  obliged 
to  take  the  same  route  himself^'.  Charles  no  sooner  ap- 
peared than  he  was  universally  acknowledged;  his  resto- 
ration did  not  cost  a  single  blow.  The  most  terrible 
anathemas  were  now  denounced  against  Lewis  the  Ger- 
man by  the  French  clergy,  unless  he  submitted  to  the 
rigours  of  the  church,  among  M^hich  were  included  pe- 
nance; and  he  was  weak  enough  to  reply,  that  he  must 
first  consult  the  bishops  of  his  own  kingdom'^^ 

The  weakness  of  Chai-les  the  Bald  was  still  more 
extraordinary.  Having  assembled  a  council  to  judge 
the  traitor  Venilon,  he  presented  a  memorial  against 
him,  in  which  is  the  following  singular  passage:  "  I 
"  ought  not  to  have  been  deposed;  or  at  least  not  before 
*'  I  had  been  judged  by  the  bishops  who  gate  me  the  royal 
*'  authority  I  I  have  always  submitted  to  their  correction^ 
"  and  am  ready  now  to  submit  to  it!"  Venilon  escaped 
punishment,  by  making  his  peace  with  the  prince:  and 
the  bishops  of  the  council  bound  themselves  by  a  canon 
to  remain  united,  "  for  the  correction  of  kings,  the  no- 
*'  bility  and  the  peopled  1" 

A  variety  of  circumstances  shew,  that  the  clergy 
now  aspired  at  the  right  of  disposing  of  crowns,  which 
they  founded  on  the  custom  of  anointing  kings.  They 
emplo3'ed  fictions  and  sophisms  to  render  themselves  in- 
dependent: they  refused  the  oath  of  fealty,  "  because 
*'  sacred  hands  could  not,  without  abomination,  submit 
*'  to  hands  impure'' !"  One  usurpation  led  to  another; 
abuse  constituted  right,  a  quibble  appeared  a  divine  law. 
Ignorance  sanctified  every  thing:  and  we  may  safely 
conclude  from  the  abject  language  of  Charles,  in  public- 
ly acknov/ledging  the  right  of  the  bishops  to  depose 
him,   and  other  examples  of  a  like  nature,  that  the  usur- 

21.  Annal.  Benin.     22.  Ibid.     25.  Concil.  Galat.  torn  ii.    Flcury, 
Hut.  Etcl$s.     24.  Hist.  flel'Eglise  Galie. 

pations 


:tET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  ajT 

pations  of  the  clergy  were,  in  a  great  measure,  occasion- 
ed by  the  slavish  superstition  of  the  laity,  equally  blind, 
wicked,   and  devout. 

The  zeal  of  the  bishops  to  establish  their  indepen- 
dency was  favourable  to  the  projects  of  the  court  of 
Rome.  Sergius  II.  the  successor  of  Gregory  IV.  had 
taken  possession  of  the  apostolic  see,  in  844,  without 
the  approbation  of  Lothario,  then  emperor.  Incensed 
at  such  an  insult,  Lothario  sent  his  son  Lewis  to 
Rome  with  troops  and  prelates.  The  pope  having  con- 
ducted the  prince  to  St.  Peter's  gate,  said  to  him,  "  I 
*'  permit  you  to  enter,  if  your  intentions  are  good;  if 
*'  not,  I  will  not  suffer  you  to  enter!"  and  the  French 
soldiers  being  guilty  of  some  irregularities,  he  actu- 
ally ordered  the  gates  to  be  shut.  Lothario  com- 
plained; Sergius  was  cited  to  appear  before  a  coun- 
cil; he  appeared,  and  justified  himself  in  the  eye  of 
the  priesthood^^.  Leo  IV.  celebrated  for  the  courage 
with  which  he  defended  Rome  against  the  Saracens,  and 
Benedict  III.  elected  in  spite  of  the  emperor,  both  lived 
in  peace  with  royalty;  but  Nicholas  I.  more  bold  than 
any  of  his  predecessors,  made  himself  the  judge  of 
kings  and  of  bishops,  and  realized  the  chimera  of  lying 
decretals. 

A  grand  occasion  offered  in   France  for  Nicholas  to 
exercise  that  authority  which  he  attributed  to 
himself.     Lothario,  king   of  Lorrain,   divor-  "  '     * 
ced  his  wife  Teutberge,    falsely  accused  of  incest.     She^ 
was  cleared  by  the  trial  of  boiling  water,  but  afterwards 
convicted    by  her    own    confession;    if  an    involuntary 
acknowledgment,  the  effect  of  violence  and  fear,  can  be 
called  conviction.     A  council  held  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  authorised  Lothario  to  espouse  Wal- 
drade,  a  young  lady  whom  he  had  seduced.     The  guilty 
parties  were  equally  desirous  of  this  marriage ;   a  crimi- 
nal amour  had  drawn  them  to  the  brink  of  dishonour. 

25.  Cmcil.  GmI.  torn.  u.    Flcurj,  Eitx.  Ecdct. 

The 


^88  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The   scandal  was  horrible!      Nicholas  laid  hold  of  the 

affair,  and  attempted  to  force  the  king  to  take   back  his 

first  wife.      For  this  purpose  he  ordered  the 
A    n    863 

bishops  to  hold  a  council  at  Mentz,  along  with 

his  legates,  and  there  to  cite  and  judge  Lothario,  They 
confirmed  the  divorce,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of 
the  pontiff:  a  decree  which  so  much  enraged  him,  that 
he  deposed  the  bishops  of  Treves  and  Cologne,  who 
had  been  appointed  to  present  to  him  the  acts  of  the  coun- 
cil. These  bishops  complained  to  the  emperor  Lewis  IL 
He  went  immediately  to  Rome;  displayed  his  authority, 
and  seemed  determined  to  repress  the  papal  power. 
But  he  fell  ill:  a  superstitious  fear  seized  him;  and  he 
retired,  after  having  approved  the  conduct  of  Nicholas, 
who  became  still  more  imperious.  Lothario  humbled 
himself  in  vain  before  the  haughty  pontiff;  though  he 
went  so  far  as  to  offer  to  come  and  justify  himself  in 
person.  The  pope  insisted,  that  Waldrade  should  first 
be  dismissed;  and  a  legate  threatened  the  king  with  im- 
mediate excommunication,  if  he  continued  in  disobe- 
dience. Lothario,  intimidated,  now  submitted:  he  re- 
called Teutberge,  and  even  consented  that  the  legate 
should  lead  Waldrade  in  triumph  to  Rome.  She  set  out 
on  that  mortifying  journey,  but  escaped  by  the  way;  and 
in  a  short  time,  resumed  her  place  both  as  mistress  and 
queen.  Meanwhile  the  unfortunate  Teutberge,  sinking 
beneath  the  weight  of  persecution  and  neglect,  at  last  de- 
sired to  be  separated  from  Lothario,  protesting  that  her 
marriage  was  void,  and  that  Waldrade's  was  legitimate. 
But  nothing  could  move  the  inflexible  Nicholas:  he  con- 
tinued obstinate-^. 

We  may  consider  this  pope  as  the  forerunner  of  Gre- 
gory VII.  and,  in  the  same  circumstances,  he  would 
likely  have  carried  his  ambition  to  the  same  height.  The 
bishops  of  Treves   and    Cologne  accused  him,   in  an  in- 

26.  Hincmar  tie  Dlvort.  Lotbar,  et  Theutberg. 

vective. 


LET.  X.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  «9 

vective,  of  inaking  himself  emperor  of  the  whole  world  ; 
and  that  expression,  though  somewhat  strained,  was  not 
altogether  without  foundation.  He  asserted  his  dominion 
over  the  French  clergy  by  re-establishing  Rothade  of 
Soissons,  deposed  by  a  provincial  council;  and  he  received 
appeals  from  all  ecclesiastics  dissatisfied  with  their  bish- 
ops. By  these  means  he  accustomed  the  people  to  ac- 
knowledge a  supreme  tribunal  at  a  distance  from  their 
own  country,  and  consequently  a  foreign  sway.  Ke  gave 
orders  for  the  succession  to  the  kingdom  of  Provence, 
which  Charles  the  Bald  disputed  with  the  emperor  Lewis, 
brother  to  the  deceased  king.  "  Let  nobody  hinder  the 
"  emperor,"  says  he,  in  a  letter  on  that  subject,  "  to  go- 
*'  vern  the  kingdoms  which  he  holds  in  virtue  of  a  suc- 
*'  cession  confirmed  by  the  holy  see,  and  by  the  crown 
**  which  the  sovereign  pontiff  has  set  upon  his  head^''." 

Nicholas  died  in  867;  but  his  principles  had  taken 
such  deep  root,  that  Adrian  IL  his  successor,  though 
more  moderate,  and  desirous  of  peace,  thought  his  con- 
descension great  in  permitting  Lothario  to  come  to  Rome, 
in  order  to  justify  himself  or  do  penance.      Charles  the 

Bald  and  Lewis  the  German  waited  with  im-  „„„ 

r         ,  .       .  P    ,     .     A.  D.   868. 

patience    tor   the    excommunication   or   their 

nephew,  persuaded  that  they  should  then  have  a  right  to 
seize  his  dominions.  Thus  the  blind  ambition  of  princes 
favoured  the  exercise  of  a  power,  which  they  ought  to 
have  foreseen  might  be  turned  against  themselves;  which 
afterwards  became  the  scourge  of  royalty,  and  made  every 
crowned  head  tremble. 

Lothario  while  at  Rome,  employed  all  possible  mean* 
to  soften  the  pope;  he  received  the  communion  from  his 
hand,  after  having  sworn  he  never  had  any  criminal  com- 
merce with  Waldrade,  since  the  prohibition  of  Nicholas, 
nor  ever  would  have  any  in  future^^.  He  died  at  Pla- 
centia,  in  his  way  home.  This  accident  was  considered 
as  a  just  vengeance;  as  a  mark  of  the  divine  displeasure 

27.  Epist.  Nicol.  Pap.      28.  Adon.  Cbron.  LothariL  Jfe^.  Cesi.  Rom. 
vol..  I.  R  against 


.90  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

against  perjury,  and  rendered  the  proof  by  the  eucharist 
still  more  iinportant. 

The  emperor  Lewis  II.  brother  of  Lothario,  ought 
legally  to  have  succeeded  to  his  dominions;  but  he  being 
at  that  time  employed  in  expelling  the  Saracens,  who 
had  plundered  Italy,  and  consequently  not  in  a  condition 
to  assert  his  right  by  arms,  Charles  the  Bald  laid  hold 
of  the  succession,  and  retained  it  notwithstanding  the  re- 
monstrances of  the  pope.  "  The  arms  which  God  has 
"  put  in  our  hands,"  writ  Adrian,  "  are  prepared  for 
*'  his  defence*!^!"  Charles  was  more  afraid  of  the  arms 
of  his  brother  the  German,  with  whom  he  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  share  the  kingdom,  though  the  nobility  and 
clergy  of  Lorrain  had  voluntarily  submitted  to  him. 

'Ihs:  pope  still  continued  his  remonstrances  in  favour 
of  the  emperor,  hoping  at  least  to  obtain  something  from 
him;  but  they  were  disregarded  by  the  French  monarch 
who  had  now  thrown  off  much  of  his  piety,  and  answered, 
in  a  spirited  manner  by  the  famous  Hincmar,  archbishop 
of  Rheims.  This  bold  and  independent  prelate  desired 
the  pope  to  call  to  mind,  that  respect  and  submission 
which  the  ancient  pontiffs  had  always  paid  to  princes:  he 
bid  him  knoMr  that  his  dignity  gave  him  no  right  over 
the  government  of  kingdoms;  that  he  could  not  be  at  the 
same  time  pope  and  king:  that  the  choice  of  sovereigns 
belongs  to  the  people;  that  anathemas  ill  applied  have  no 
effect  upon  the  soul;  and  that  free  men  are  not  to  be  en- 
slaved by  a  bishop  of  Rome^". 

Adrian  affected  to  despise  tliese  arguments,  and  con- 
tinued for  sometime  his  menaces,  both  against  Hincmar 
and  the  king;  but,  finding  them  ineffectual,  he  changed 
his  tone,  and  wrote  several  flattering  letters  to  Charles, 
promising  him  the  empire  on  the  death  of  his  nephew, 
then  in  a  languishing  condition.  This  project  in  favour 
of  the  French  monarch  was  executed  vmder  John  VIII. 
Adrian's  successor.    The  emperor  Lewis  II.  died  with- 

29.  Epist.  Adrian.  30.  Flcury,  HUt.  Eccks. 

out 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  91 

out  male  heirs.  Lewis  the  German  claimed 
the  succession,  and  the  imperial  dignity,  as  ' 
the  elder  brother  of  Charles:  but  the  pope  preferred  the 
claim  of  Charles  for  political  reasons;  which,  with  the 
court  of  Rome,  never  fail  to  take  place  of  equity.  Lewis 
seemed  fast  approaching  to  his  end,  and  had  three  sons, 
among  whom  his  dominions  must  be  divided.  Charles 
was  a  younger  man,  and  had  only  one  son;  he  there- 
fore appeared  the  most  proper  person  to  chuse  as  a  pro- 
tector. He  crossed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  his  army, 
and  accordingly  received  the  imperial  crown  as  a  present 
from  the  pope;  but  much  in  the  same  manner  that  many 
presents  of  the  like  kind  are  obtained  in  our  days,  by 
paying  roundly  for  it.  In  an  assembly  at 
Pavia,  the  bishops,  abbots,  and  Italian  no-  *  •  '  • 
bles,  recognized  him  in  the  following  words:  "Since  the 
"  divine  favour,  through  the  merits  of  the  holy  apostles, 
*'  and  of  their  vicar  pope  John,  has  raised  you  to  the 
"  empire,  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
"  we  elect  you  unanimously  for  our  protector  and  lord^ ." 

On  the  death  of  Lewis  the  German,  a  prince  of 
considerable  abilities  both  as  a  warrior  and  politician, 
Charles  the  Bald,  always  ambitious  and  imprudent,  at- 
tempted to  seize  that  part  of  Lorrain  which  he  had 
granted  to  his  brother,  and  was  deservedly  defeateds^. 
His  three  nephews,  Carloman,  Lewis  and  Charles,  pre- 
served their  possessions  by  maintaining  a  strict  union 
among  themselves.  The  first  had  Bavaria,  the  second 
Saxony,  and  the  third  Suabia. 

About  this  time  the  Saracens  renewed  their  ravages 
in  Italy.  They  took  and  plundered  Comachio. 
Pope  John  had  recourse  to  the  emperor;  and 
desired  him  "  to  remember  the  hand  that  had  given  him 
*■'■  the  empire;  lest,"  added  he,  "  if  driven  to  despair, 
"  we  should  change  our  opinion!"  That  menace,  suffi- 
ciently intelligible,  had  its  effect.      Though  France  was 

SI.  Ibid.  32.  Anna!.  Fuldens, 

then 


^  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

then  over-run  by  the  Normans,  whom  Charles  was  un- 
able to  resist,  he  undertook  to  expel  the  Saracens;  and 
he  was  scarce  arrived  in  Italy,  when  he  received  intelli- 
gence of  a  new  enemy.  Carloman,  his  nephew  had  ad- 
vanced against  him,  with  an  intention  to  seize  the  impe- 
rial crown  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  in  virtue  of  his 
father's  will,  and  the  right  of  primogeniture.  Charles, 
betrayed  by  his  nobles,  retired  with  precipitation:  fell 
ill,  and  died  in  a  miserable  cottage,  at  a  village  called 
Brios,  in  the  fifty-foiu'th  year  of  his  age^^. 

A  capitular  in  the  last  year  of  Charles's  reign,  per- 
mits the  nobility  to  transmit  their  employments  to  their 
sons  or  other  male  hcirs^"^.  This  privilege,  extorted 
from  the  crown,  as  I  have  already  observed^^,  was  one 
of  the  principal  sources  of  disorder  in  the  feudal  govern- 
ment; and  tended,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  to 
the  abolition  of  all  political  subjection.  In  the  meantime 
I  must  speak  of  a  people,  who  deserve  your  attention^ 
IK)  less  on  account  of  their  manners  than  their  warlik? 
achievements. 


LETTER  XL 


THE    NORMANS    OR    DANES,     BEFORE     THEIR    SETTLEMENT    IK 
FRANCE    AND    KNGLAND. 


X  HE  bravest  and  most  liberal  minded  of  the 
Saxons,  mydearPhilip,  on  the  final  reduction  of  their  coun- 
try by  Charlemagne,  havingfledfrom  the  dominion  and  per- 
secutions of  the  conqueror,  into  the  ancient  Scandinavia, 
or  that  part  of  the  norchern  peninsula  of  Europe  which 
comprehends  the  present  kingdoms  of  Sweden,  Denmark 

33.  Sigon.  de  He^.  Ital.  Annul.  Bertinlani.       34,  Capit.  Caroli  Calvi^ 
35.  Letter  II. 

and 


i.£T.  XI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  9S 

and  Norway,  carried  with  them  (as  ah-eady  observed',) 
their  vengeance,  and  violent  aversion  against  Christianity. 
There  meeting  with  men  of  dispositions  similar  to  their 
own  i  and  the  same  religion  with  themselves,  they  were 
cordially  receiv'ed,  and  soon  stimulated  the  natives  to 
deeds  of  arms;  to  enterprises  which  at  once  promised 
revenge  to  the  fugitives,  and  subsistence  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  countries  then  overstocked  with  people. 

In  their  various  incursions  on  the  continent,  these 
ferocious  adventurers  were  known  by  the  general  name 
of  Normans,  from  their  northern  situation;  and  in  their 
attacks  upon  Britain,  by  the  common  appellation  of 
Danes,  to  whatever  country  they  might  belong.  They 
became  the  terror  of  all  the  maritime  parts  of  Europe— 
But  before  I  speak  of  their  depredations,  I  must  say  a 
few  words  of  their  religion  and  manners. 

The  manners  of  a  people,  and  their  popular  supersti- 
tion, depend  mutually  on  each  other.  Religion  takes  its 
complexion  originally  from  the  manners:  men  form  a 
deity  according  to  their  own  ideas,  their  prejudices,  their 
passions;  and  the  manners  are,  in  a  great  measure,  con- 
tinued or  altered  by  the  established  religion  of  any 
country,  especially  if  calculated  to  affect  the  imagination. 
The  religion  of  the  ancient  Scandinavians  was  highly  so^^ 
and  was  preserved  entire  among  the  Normans,  who  also 
retained  their  unadulterated  manners.  They  were  wor- 
thy of  each  other:  equally  bloody  and  bai'barous,  but 
formed  to  inspire  the  most  enthusiastic  courage,  and  thd 
most  unremitted  perseverance  in  toil.  Odin,  whom  the 
Saxons  called  Woden,  was  their  supreme  divinity.  They 
painted  him  as  the  God  of  terror;  the  Author  of  devas- 
tation; the  Father  oi  carnage! — and  they  worshipped  him 
accordingly.  They  sacrificed  to  him,  when  successful, 
some  of  the  captives  taken  in  war: — and  they  believed 
those  heroes  would  starrd  highest  in  his  favour  who  had 
killed  most  enemies  in  the  field;    that  after  death,  the 

1,.  Letter  IX. 

brave 


94  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

brave  would  be  admitted  into  his  palace,  and  there  have 
the  happiness  of  drinking  beer  (the  favourite  liquor  of 
the  northern  nations)  out  of  the  skulls  of  their  slaugh- 
tered foes-. 

In  consequence  of  this  belief,  fatigues,  wounds,  com- 
bats, and  perils,  were  the  exercise  of  infanc}',  and  the 
sport  of  youth.  They  Were  forbid  to  pronounce  the 
word  fear,  even  on  the  most  trying  occasions.  Educa- 
tion, prejudice,  manners,  example,  habit,  all  contributed 
to  subdue  in  them  the  sensation  of  timidity;  to  make 
them  covet  danger,  and  seem  greedy  of  deaths  Mili- 
tary discipline  was  only  wanting  to  have  enabled  them 
to  enslave  the  whole  Christian  world,  then  sinking  under 
the  weight  of  a  debasing  superstition,  and  cringing 
beneath  the  rod  of  priestly  tyranny. 

Though  Charlemagne,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to 
notice,  took  many  wise  precautions  against  the  Normans, 
he  was  not  able  wholly  to  prevent  their  irruptions,  and 
was  only  freed  by  the  death  of  their  leader  from  a  dan- 
gerous competition.  Under  Lewis  the  Debonnaire,  they 
threw  all  France  into  alarm;  and  under  Charles  the  Bald, 
they  committed  frightful  devastations.  Their  fleets, 
which  were  composed  of  light  barques,  braved  the  storms 
of  the  ocean,  and  penetrated  every  creek  and  river;  so 
that  they  landed  sometimes  on  the  coasts,  and  sometimes 
in  the  interior  parts  of  the  kingdom.  As  the  govern- 
ment took  no  effectual  measures  for  repelling  them,  the 
unjjrotected  people    knew  nothing  but  fear.     Fire  and 

2.  See  the  Edda,  or  system  of  Runic  Mythology.  In  that  state  of  fes- 
tivity, the  departed  warriors  were  supposed  to  be  served  at  table  by 
beautiful  virgins  called  Valker,  who  ministered  to  other  pleasures  beside 
those  of  the  feast.  {Edda  Mythol.  xxxi.)  And  war  and  arms,  the  delight 
of  the  Scandinavians  in  this  life,  were  believed  to  be  their  amusement  in 
another  world.  Edda  Mytbol.  xxxv. 

3.  "  The  l>attle  is  as  pleasing  to  me,"  says  Lodbrog  (vj'^o  was  a  king 
and  a  warrior  as  well  as  a  poet),  "  as  the  bed  of  a  virgin  in  the  glow  of 
her  charms,  or  the  kiss  of  a  young  widow  in  her  most  secret  apartment." 
Epked.  S.troph.  xiv. 

swoi"d, 


LET.  XI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  95 

sword,  on  all  hands,  marked  the  route  of  the  ravagers. 
With  their  booty  they  carried  off  women,  to  whom  they 
were  much  addicted,  and  boys  to  recruit  their  predatory 
bands.  They  were  no  sooner  gone  than  they 
again  returned.  They  pillaged  Rouen  twice; 
they  surprised  and  burnt  Paris  j  they  laid  waste  Aqui- 
taine  and  other  provinces,  and  reduced  the  French  mo- 
narch to  the  greatest  distress''^. 

Shut  up  at  St.  Denis,  while  his  capital  v/as  in  flames, 
Charles  the  Bald  was  no  less  anxious  about  saving  his 
people,  than  the  reliques.  Instead  of  encountering  the 
enemy,  he  bought  a  peace:  or,  in  other  words,  he  fur- 
nished the  Normans  with  the  means,  while  he  inspired 
them  with  the   motive   of  a  new  war.     They  returned 

accordino^ly:  and  Charles  to  complete  his  dis- 

.  .  .  A.  D.  STT. 

grace,  published  when  going  to  assist  the  pope, 

in  the  last  year  of  his  reign,  a  capitular  to  regulate  the 
contributions  to  be  paid  to  the  Normans^. 

England  had  also  experienced  a  variety  of  calamities 
from  the  incursions  of  these  plunderers,  when  it  found  a 
protector  in  the  great  Alfred.  But  before  I  exhibit  the 
exploits,  or  consider  the  institutions  of  that  illustrious 
prince,  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  reigns  of  his  prede- 
cessors from  the  end  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy. 

4.  Fer.  Chron.  Hist,  Norm.  S.  Cupiu  Caroli,  Calm. 


96  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 


LETTER  XII. 


JtNGLAND,  FROM  THE   END  OF   THE  SAXON   HEPTARCHY,  TO  THK 
DEATH   OF   ALFRED    THE   GREAT. 

X^GBERT,  the  first  sole  monarch  of  England, 

was  a  prince  of  eminent  abilities  and  great  experience. 

He  had  enjoyed  a  considerable   command  in 
A.  D.  827.  .         -   > 

*  the  armies  of  Charlemagne,  by  whom  he  was 

much  respected,  and  had  acted  successfully  against  the 
Normans,  and  other  enemies  of  the  empire.  After  his 
return  to  Britain,  he  was  engaged  in  a  variety  of  strug- 
gles, before  he  obtained  the  supreme  dominion;  but 
having  surmounted  those  difficulties,  he  found  himself 
without  a  rival.  Being  the  only  remaining  descendant 
of  Hengist  and  Horsa,  the  first  Saxon  leaders  who  landed 
in  this  island,  and  who  were  supposed  to  be  sprung  from 
Woden,  the  chief  divinity  of  the  ancient  Saxons,  the 
people  readily  transferred  their  allegiance  to  a  prince 
who  appeared  to  merit  it  equally  by  his  birth  and  talents; 
so  that  Egbert  was  no  sooner  seated  on  the  throne  of 
England  than  the  seven  kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy  were 
strongly  cemented  into  one  monarchy.  An  union  of  go- 
vernment seemed  to  promise  internal  tranquillity;  and 
the  Saxons,  from  their  insular  situation^  and  their  power, 
had  little  reason  to  be  afraid  of  foreign  enemies.  The 
Britons  were  humbled;  and  the  Scots  and  Picts,  wasted 
by  continual  wars  with  each  other,  being  in  no  condition 
to  molest  Egbert,  he  flattered  himself  with  peace  and 
security.  But  huma«  foresight  is  very  limited,  a  fleet 
of  those  northern  adventurers,  whom  we  have  already 
seen  ravaging  France,  under  the  name  of  Normans, 
soon  gave  the  English  monarch  reason  to  alter  his 
©pinion.    They  first  landed  in  the  isle  of  Shepey,  pillaged 

it 


LIT,  XII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  97 

it,  and  carried  off  their  booty  Avith  impunity.    They  re- 
turned next  year  in  thirty-five   ships.    Egbert 
gave    them   battle    at    Charmouth    in  Dorset- 
shire;   where   they    were    worsted,    after    an    obstinate 
dispute,    but  made   good   their   retreat   to  their    ships. 
Now   sensible   what  an   enemy  they   had  to  deal  with, 

they  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Britons 

.        .  A.  D*  835. 

of   Cornwall ;    and,    landing  in  that   country, 

their  confederates  and  they  made  an  irruption  into  the 

county  of  Devon.     They  were  met  by  Egbert  at  Hen- 

gesdown,  and  totally  defeated'.      But  whilst  England  was 

threatened  with  new  alarms  from  the  same  quarter,  this 

warlike  monarch,   who  alone  was  able  to  op- 

AD    838 
pose  the  invaders,  unfortunately  died,  and  left 

the  kingdom  to  his  son  Ethelwolf,  a  prince  better  fitted 
to  wear  the  cowl  dian  the  crov/n, 

Ethelwolf  began  his  reign  with  dividing  his  domin- 
ions, according  to  the  absurd  custom  of  those  times  ; 
delivering  over  to  his  eldest  son,  Athelstan,  the  coun- 
ties of  Essex,  Kent,  and  Sussex.  But  no  inconvenien- 
caes  seem  to  have  arisen  from  this  partition,  the  terror 
of  the  Danish  invaders  preventing  all  domestic  dissen- 
tions.  Time  proved  that  this  terror  was  but  too  just. 
The  Danes  returned  with  redoubled  fury  ;  and,  though 
often  repulsed,  and  sometimes  defeated,  they  always 
obtained  their  end,  by  committing  plunder,  and  carry- 
ing off  their  booty.  They  avoided  coming  to  a  general 
engagement,  which  was  not  suited  to  their  plan  of  ope- 
rations. Their  vessels  being  small,  ran  easily  up  the 
creeks  and  rivers  ;  they  drew  them  ashore,  and  formed 
an  entrenchment  around  them,  leaving  them  under  a 
guard.  They  scattered  themselves  over  the  face  of  the 
country  in  small  parties,  making  spoil  of  every  thing 
that  came  in  their  way  ;  goods,  cattle,  and  women.  If 
opposed  by  a  superior  force,  they  betook  themselves  to 
their  vessels  ;  set  sail,  and  invaded  some  distant  quar- 
ter, not   prepared  for  their  reception.      All  England 

1.  Cbron.  Sax. 

VOL.  I.  s  was 


98  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part   i. 

was  kept  in  continual  alarm  ;  nor  durst  the  inhabitants 
of  one  part  go  to  the  assistance  of  another,  lest  their  own 
families  and  possessions  should  be  exposed  to  the  fury 
of  the  ravagers'.  Every  season  of  the  year  was  alike  : 
no  man  could  compute  on  a  moment's  safety 

Encouraged  by  their  past  successes,  the  Danes  at 
length  landed  in  so  large  a  body  as  seemed 
*  to  threaten  the  whole  island  with  subjection. 
But  the  Anglo-Saxons,  though  labouring  under  the 
weight  of  superstition,  were  still  a  gallant  people  ;  they 
roused  themselves  with  a  vigour  proportioned  to  the 
necessity,  and  defeated  their  invaders  in  several  en- 
gagements'. The  Danes  however  ventured,  for  the 
first  time,  to  take  up  their  winter  quarters  in  England  ; 
and  receiving  in  the  spring  a  strong  reinforcement,  by 

three  hundred  and  fifty  vessels,  they  advan- 
A.  D.   852.  . 

ced  from  the  isle  of  Thanet,  where  they  had 

stationed  themselves,  and  burnt  the   cities  of  London 

and  Canterbury.     They  were  again  defeated  in  several 

engagements  ;  yet  they  still  maintained  their  settlement 

in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  spent  next  winter  in  the  isle 

of  Shepey. 

The  harassed  state  of  his  kingdom  did  not  hinder 

Ethelwolf  from   making   a   pilcrrimaGre   to 
\.    D.     854.  .  Ola  t>       ^ 

Rome.       Thither  he   carried  Alfred,   his 

fourth  and   favourite  son,   then  only  six  years   of  age. 

In  his  return  after  a  twelve-month   spent  in   devotions 

and  benefactions  to  the  see  of  Rome,  Ethelwolf  married 

Judith,   daughter  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the   Bald  ; 

and,   soon  after  his  arrival  in  England,  he  conferred  a 

perpetual  and  very   important  donation  on  the  church, 

by  granting  to  the  clergy  a  tenth  out  of  all 

the   produce  of  land.      This   enormous  tax 

upon   industry  had  been  long  claimed  by  the  servants 

of  the  altar,  as  a  perpetual  property  belonging  to   the 

priesthood  ;   a  jargon  founded  on  the   practice  of  the 

Jews.      Charlemagne  had  ordered  the  tythe  to  be  paid 

in    consideration    of  the    church-lands    seized    by   the 

2.  Alured  Beverl.  5.  Chron.  Sax, 

laity: 


LET.  XII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  99 

laity:  but,  in  England,  no  such  invasion  had  been  made. 
The  church  enjoyed  many  lands,  and  was  enriched  by 
the  continual  oblations  of  the  people  :  the  English  cler- 
gy, therefore,  had  not  hitherto  been  able  to  obtain  their 
demand.  But  a  favourable  opportunity  now  offered, 
and  religion  furnished  the  motive  ;  a  weak  and  super- 
stitious prince,  and  an  ignorant  people  dejected  by  their 
losses,  and  in  terror  of  future  invasions,  greedily  laid 
hold  of  any  means,  however  costly,  of  bribing  the  pro- 
tection of  Heaven*. 

During  the  absence  of  Ethelwolf,  his  eldest  son 
Athelstan  died  ;  and  Ethelbald,  the  second  son,  had 
formed  the  project  of  excluding  his  father  from  the 
throne.  This  unnatural  attempt  gave  the  pious  mo- 
narch little  concern.  He  complied  with  most  of  his  son's 
demands,  and  the  kingdom  was  divided  between  them. 

Ethelwolf  lived  only  two  years  after  his  re- 

.  .        .      A.   D.  857. 

turn  to   England,  which  he  left  by  his  will 

to  be   shared  between  his  two  eldest  sons,   Ethelbald 

and  Ethelbert. 

Ethelbald  was  a  profligate  prince,  but  his  reign  was 
happily  short  ;  and  Ethelbert  succeding  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  whole  kingdom,  conducted  him- 

.n     ,      .  .  °_        '  .  A.  D.  860. 

sell,  during  a  reign  oi  live  years,  in  a  man- 
ner more  suitable    to  his   rank.      England  was  still  in- 
fested by  the  depredations  of  the   Danes  :  who,  in  his 
reign,  sacked  Winchester,  but  were  there  defeated. 

Ethelbert  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Ethelred, 
whose  whole  reign  was  one  continued  strug- 
gle with  the  Danes.     He  defended  his  king- 
dom with  much  bravery,  and  was  gallantly  seconded  in 
all   his  efforts  by  his  younger  brother   Alfred  ;   who, 
though  excluded  from  a  large   inheritance  left  him  by 
his  father,  generously  sacrificetl  his  resent- 
ment to  the  public  good.      Ethelred  died  in      *      * 
the   midst  of  these  troubles,  and  left  his   disordered 
kingdom  to  his  brother  Alfred. 

4  Sclden,  Hist.  T}tb.  cap.  viii. 

Alfred 


100  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r, 

Alfred  was  now  tM'enty  years  of  age,  and  a  prince 
of  very  promising  talents.  He  had  no  sooner  buried 
his  brother  than  he  was  obliged  to  take  the  field  against 
the  Danes.  They  had  seized  Wilton,  and  were  ravag- 
ing the  neighbouring  country.  He  gave  them  battle,  and 
at  first  gained  some  advantage  over  them  ;  but,  pursu- 
ing his  victory  too  far,  he  was  worsted  by  means  of 
the  enemy'^s  numbers.  The  loss  of  the  Danes,  how- 
ever, was  so  considerable  that,  fearing  Alfred  might 
suddenly  receive  reinforcements  from  his  subjects,  they 
stipulated  for  a  safe  retreat,  under  a  promise  to  depart 
the  kingdom.  But  they  were  no  sooner  freed  from 
danger  than  they  renewed  their  ravages.  A  new  swarm 
of  Danes  landed  under  three  principal  leaders  ;  and 
Alfred,  in  one  year,  fought  eight  battles  with 
'  these  faithless  and  inhuman  invaders,  and  re- 
duced them  to  the  greatest  extremity.  But  this  generous 
prince  again  condescending  to  treat  with  them,  was' 
again  deceived.  ^V''hile  he  was  expecting  the  execu- 
tion of  the  agreement,  a  third  swarm  landed  from 
the  nothem  hive,  and  reduced  the  Saxons  to  despair. 
They  believed  themselves  abandoned  by  Heaven,  and 
devoted  to  destruction  ;  since,  after  all  their  vigorous 
efforts,  fresh  invaders  still  poured  in  upon  them,  as 
greedy  of  spoil  and  slaughter  as  the  former.  Some  left 
their  country,  others  submitted  to  the  conquerors,  but 
none  would  listen  to  the  exhortations  of  Alfred  ;  Avho> 
still  undismayed,  begged  them  to  make  one  exertion 
more  in  defence  of  their  possessions,  their  liberties, 
and  their  prince^. 

Thus  abandoned  by  his  subjects,  this  illustrious 
monarch  was  obliged  to  lay  aside  the  ensigns  of  his 
dignity,  and  assume  the  habit  of  a  peasant.  In  that 
mean  disguise  he  eluded  the  pui"suit  and  the  fury  of  his 
enemies;  and,  in  order  to  save  his  country, he  even  con- 
descended to  live  for  some  time  as  servant  to  a  grazier. 

5.  Chron.  Sax.    Alured.  Bevei-I. 

But 


LET.  X11.3  MODERN  EUROPE.  lOl 

But  the  human  mind  is  as  little  suited  to  employments 
beneath,  as  above  its  capacity  :  the  great  Alfred  made 
a  bad  cow-herd.  His  guardian  genius  was  occupied 
about  higher  cares  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  found  the  search 
of  his  enemies  become  more  remiss,  he  collected  some 
of  his  adherents,  and  retired  into  the  middle  of  a  mo- 
rass, formed  by  the  stagnating  waters  of  the  Thone  and 
Parret  ;  where  finding  some  firm  ground,  he  built  and 
fortified  a  castle,  no  less  secure  by  its  own  strength 
than  by  its  remote  and  inaccessible  situation.  This 
place  is  called  Aethelingey,  or  the  Isle  of  Nobles. 
It  now  bears  the  name  of  Athelney.  Here  during  £ 
twelve-month,  Alfred  lay  concealed,  but  not  inactive  ; 
he  made  frequent  and  unexpected  sallies  upon  the 
Danes,  who  often  felt  the  vigour  of  his  arm,  but  knew 

not  whence  the  blow   came,  or  bv  whom  it 

AD      880 
was  directed.    At  length  a  prosperous  event 

emboldened  the  royal  fugitive  to  leave  his  retreat,  and 
enter  on  a  scene  of  action  more  worthy  of  himself. 

Oddune,  earl  of  Devonshire,  being  besieged  in  his 
castle  by  Hubba,  a  celebrated  Danish  general,  made  an 
unexpected  sally  upon  the  enemy,  put  them  to  route,  and 
pursued  them  with  great  slaughter;  killed  Hubba  himself, 
and  got  possession  of  the  famous  Reafen^  or  Raven,  an 
enchanted  standard,  in  which  the  Danes  put  great  confi- 
dence^  The  news  of  this  victory  were  immediately 
carried  by  the  faithful  earl  to  Alfred,  who  was  happy  to 
find  the  seeds  of  valour  beginning  to  revive  among  his 
subjects;  but,  before  he  would  assemble  them  in  arms, 
he  resolved  to  inspect  the  situation  of  the  enemy,  and 
judge  of  the  probability  of  success,  as  an  unfortunate  at^ 
tempt  in  the  present  state  of  national  despondency,  must 
have  terminated  in  final  ruin.  In  consequence  of  this 
resolution,  he  entered  the  Danish  camp  under  the  dis- 
guise of  a  harper,  and  passed  unsuspected  through  every 
quarter.  He  observed  the  supine  security  of  the  ravagers^ 
their  contempt  of  the  English,   and  their  neglect  of  all 

6.  Cbrun.  Sax.  Abbas.  Rieval. 

niilitary 


102  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

military  regulations.  Encouraged  by  these  propitious 
appearances,  he  sent  secret  intelligence  to  his  most  pow- 
erful subjects,  and  summoned  them  to  assemble,  along 
with  their  retainers,  on  the  borders  of  Selwood  forest^ 
The  English,  who,  instead  of  ending  their  calamities  by 
submission,  as  they  fondly  hoped,  had  found  the  in- 
solence and  rapine  of  the  conquerors  more  intolerable 
than  the  dangers  and  fatigues  of  war,  joyfully  resorted 
to  the  place  of  rendezvous.  They  saluted  their  beloved 
monarch  with  bursts  of  applause;  they  could  not  satiate 
their  eyes  with  the  sight  of  a  prince  whom  they  had  be- 
lieved dead,  and  Avho  now  appeared  as  their  deliverer; 
they  begged  to  be  led  to  liberty  and  vengeance.  Alfred 
did  not  suffer  their  ardour  to  cool:  he  conducted  them 
instantly  to  Eddington,  where  the  Danes  lay  encamped; 
and,  taking  advantage  of  his  previous  knowledge  of  the 
enemy's  situation,  he  directed  his  attack  against  their 
most  unguarded  quarter.  Surprised  to  see  an  army  of 
Englishmen,  whom  they  considered  as  totally  subdued, 
and  still  more  to  find  Alfred  at  their  head,  the  Danes 
made  but  a  feeble  resistance  notwithstanding  their  supe- 
rior numbers^.  They  were  soon  put  to  flight,  and  routed 
with  great  slaughter. 

Alfred,  no  less  generous  than  brave,  and  who  knew 
as  well  how  to  govern  as  to  conquer,  took  the  remain- 
der of  the  Danish  armv,  and  th*eir  prince  Guthrum  under 
his  protection.  He  granted  them  their  lives  on  submis- 
sion, and  liberty  to  settle  in  the  kingdoms  of  Northum- 
berland and  East  Anglia  (which  were  entirely  desolated 
by  the  frequent  inroads  of  their  countrymen),  on  condi- 
tion that  they  should  embrace  Christianity.  They  con- 
sented and  were  baptised:  the  king  stood  god-father  for 
Guthrum9. 

This  mode  of  population  fully  answered  Alfred's 
expectations.  The  greater  part  of  the  Danes  settled 
peaceably  in  their  new  possessions;   and  the  more  turbu- 

7.  Gul.  Malines.  lib.  ii.  8.  Cbron.  Sax.  Simon  Dunelm.  Alured  Beverl- 
e.   Ibid. 

lent 


LET.  XII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  103 

lent  made  an  expedition  into  France,  under  their  famous 
leader  Hastings,  Avho  afterwards  invaded  England,  but 
was  expelled  by  the  valour  and  vigilance  of  Alfred'". 

In  the  meantime  this  great  prince  was  employed  in 
establishing  civil  and  military  institutions:  in  composing 
the  minds  of  men  to  industry  and  justice,  and  in  providing 
against  the  return  of  like  calamities.  After  rebuilding  the 
ruined  cities,  particularly  London,  which  had  been  destroy- 
ed by  the  Danes  in  the  reign  of  Ethelwolf,  he  established  a 
regular  militia  for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom.  He  took 
care  that  all  his  subjects  should  be  armed  and  registered, 
and  assigned  them  a  regular  round  of  duty:  he  distributed 
one  part  into  the  castles  and  fortresses,  which  he  erect- 
ed at  proper  places;  he  appointed  another  to  take  the  field 
on  any  alarm,  and  assemble  at  stated  places  of  rendezvous; 
and  he  left  a  sufficient  number  at  home,  who  Vv^ere  em- 
ployed in  the  cultivation  of  the  lands,  and  afterwards 
took  their  turn  in  military  service.  The  whole  kingdom 
was  like  one  great  garrison:  the  Danes  could  no  sooner 
land  in  any  quarter,  than  a  sufficient  force  was  ready  to 
oppose  them,  and  that  without  leaving  the  other  parts 
naked  or  defenceless". 

But  Alfred  did  not  trust  solely  to  his  land  forces. 
Jle  may  be  considered  as  the  creator  of  the  English  navy, 
as  well  as  the  establisher  of  the  monarchy.  Sensible  that 
ships  are  the  most  natural  bulwark  of  an  island,  a  cir- 
cumstance hitherto  entirely  overlooked  by  the  Saxons  or 
English,  as  they  began  now  to  be  generally  called,  he 
provided  himself  with  a  naval  force,  and  met  the  Danes 
on  their  own  element.  A  fleet  of  an  hundred  and  twenty 
armed  vessels  was  stationed  upon  the  coast;  and  being  pro- 
vided with  warlike  engines,  and  expert  seamen,  both  Fri- 
sians and  English,  maintained  a  superioritv  over  the 
enemy,  and  gave  birth  to  that  claim,  which  England  still 
supports  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  ocean^-. 

10.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  li.       11.   Spelman's  Life  of  Alfred.      12.  Id.  ibid 

In 


104  THE  HISTORY  OF  [rART.  i. 

In  this  manner  did  Alfred  provide  for  the  security  of 
his  kingdom;  and  the  excellent  posture  of  defence  every- 
where established,  together  with  the  wisdom  and  valour 
of  the  prince,  at  length  restored  peace  and  tranquillity  to 
England,  and  communicated  to  it  a  consequence  hitherto 
unknown  in  the  monarchy.  But  I  should  convey  to  you, 
my  dear  Philip,  a  very  imperfect  idea  of  Alfred's  merit, 
were  I  to  confine  myself  merely  to  his  military  and  po- 
litical talents.  His  judicial  institutions,  and  his  zeal  for 
the  encouragement  of  arts  and  sciences,  demand  your  par- 
ticular attention.  We  must  now,  therefore,  consider  him 
in  a  character  altogether  civil;  as  the  father  of  English 
law  and  English  literature. 

Though  Alfred  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  had 
subdued,  settled  or  expelled  the  Danes,  as  a  body,  strag- 
gling bands  of  that  people  afterwards  continued  to  infest 
the  kingdom  with  their  robberies;  and  even  the  native 
English,  reduced  to  extreme  indigence  by  these  and 
former  depredations,  abandoned  themselves  to  a  like 
disorderly  life.  They  joined  the  robbers  in  pillaging 
the  more  wealthy  part  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Those 
evils  required  redress,  and  Alfred  took  means  effectually 
lo  remove  them.  In  order  to  render  the  execution  of 
justice  more  strict  and  regular,  he  divided  all  England 
into  counties;  these  counties  he  subdivided  into  hundreds, 
and  the  hundreds,  into  ty things.  Every  housholder 
was  answeraJble  for  the  behaviour  of  his  family,  of  his 
slaves,  and  even  of  his  guests,  if  they  resided  above 
three  days  in  his  house.  Ten  neighbouring  housholders, 
answerable  Ujt  each  other's  conduct,  wei-e  formed  into 
oae  corporation,  under  the  name  of  a  tything,  decennary, 
or  fribourg,  over  which  a  person  called  a  tything  man, 
headbourg,  or  borsholder,  presided.  Every  man  was 
punished  as  an  outlaw  who  did  not  register  himself  in 
some  tything:  and  no  man  could  change  his  habitation, 
without  a  warrant  and  certificate  from  the  borsholder  of 
the  tything  to  which  he  formerly  belonged' 3. 

13.  Fxdus  Alfrtd,  ct  Gcthium.     cap.  iii.  ap.  Wilkins. 

These- 


lET.  XII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  10.5 

These  regulations  may  seem  rigorous,  and  are  not  per* 
haps  necessary  in  times  when  men  are  habituated  to  obe- 
dience and  justice.  But  they  were  ^Vell  calculated  to  re- 
duce a  fierce  and  licentious  people  under  the  salutary 
restraints  of  law  and  government;  and  Alfred  took  care 
to  temper  their  severity  by  other  institutions  favourable 
to  the  freedom  and  security  of  the  subject.  Nothing 
can  be  more  liberal  than  his  plan  for  the  administration 
of  justice.  The  borsholder  stmimoned  his  whole  decen- 
nary to  assist  him  in  the  decision  of  smaller  differences 
among  the  members  of  the  corporation:  in  controversies 
of  greater  moment,  the  dispute  was  brought  before  the 
hundred,  which  consisted  of  ten  decennaries,  or  a  hun- 
dred familes  of  freemen,  and  was  regularly  assembled 
once  in  four  weeks,  for  the  trying  of  causes"*.  Their 
mode  of  decision  claims  your  attention:  twelve  freehold- 
ers were  chosen;  who  having  sworn  along  with  the  ma- 
gistrate of  the  hundred  to  administer  impartial  justice, 
proceeded  to  the  examination  of  the  cause  that  was  sub- 
mitted to  them.  In  this  simple  form  of  trial  you  will 
perceive  the  origin  of  juries,  or  judgment  by  equals,  an 
institution  now  almost  peculiar  to  the  English  nation, 
admirable  in  itself,  and  the  best  calculated  for  the  pre- 
servation of  man's  natural  rights,  and  the  administration 
of  justice,  that  hunr.an  wisdom  ever  devised'^'. 

Beside  these  monthly  meetings  of  the  hundred,  there 
was  an  annual  meeting,  appointed  for  the  more  general 
inspection  of  the  police  of  the  district;  inquiring  into 
crimes,  correcting  abuses  in  magistrates,  and  obliging 
every  person  to  shew  the  decennary  in  v/hich  he  was  re- 
gistered. In  imitation  of  their  ancestors  the  ancient  Ger- 

14.  Id.  Ibid. 

15.  Trial  by  jury  was  known  to  the  Saxons,  at  least  In  criminal 
cases,  before  their  settlement  in  Britain.  But,  amonj  the  nations  of 
the  continent,  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  members  of  a  jury  should  b* 
nnanimous  in  their  decision  :  a  majority  of  voices  was  sufficient  to  acqui'' 
or  condemn  the  person  accused.  Stiernkof  </c^are  Sueon.  ft  Cothor.  Vuiusf 
lib.  i. 

VOL.  I.  T  mans. 


106  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

mans,  the  people  on  those  occasions  assembled  i» 
arms:  whence  a  hundred  was  someties  called  a  Wapen- 
take, and  its  court  served  for  the  support  of  military  dis- 
cipline, as  well  as  the  administration  of  justice'^. 

The  next  superior  court  to  that  of  the  hundred  was 
the  county-court,  which  met  twice  a-year,  and  consisted 
of  all  the  freeholders  of  the  county,  who  had  an  equal 
vote  in  the  decision  of  causes;  but  of  this  court  I  have 
already  spoke  in  treating  of  the  laws  and  government 
of  the  Saxons.  1  shall  therefore  only  add  here,  That 
to  the  alderman  and  bishop,  Alfred  added  a  third 
judge  in  each  county,  under  the  name  of  Sheriff,  who 
enjoyed  equal  authority  with  the  two  former'^.  His  office 
also  empowered  him  to  guard  the  rights  of  the  crown  in 
the  country,  and  levy  the  fines  imposed;  which,  in  an  age 
when  money  atoned  for  almost  eveiy  violation  of  the 
laws  of  society,  formed  no  inconsiderable  branch  of  the 
public  revenue. 

In  default  of  justice  from  all  these  courts,  an  appeal 
lay  to  the  king  himself  in  council ;  and  as  the  wisdom 
and  justice  of  Alfred  were  universally  revered,  he  was 
soon  overwhelmed  with  appeals  from  all  parts  of  his 
dominions.  In  order  to  remedy  this  inconvenience,  he 
chose  tlie  earls  and  sheriffs  from  among  the  men  most 
celebrated  for  probity  and  knowledge  in  the  kingdom: 
he  punished  severely  all  malversation  in  office  ;  he  remo- 
ved all  whom  he  found  unequal  to  the  trust^^;  and,  the 
better  to  guide  magistrates  of  all  kinds  in  the  adminis- 
tration  of  justice,  he  framed  a  body  of  laws; 
which,  though  now  lost,  served  long  as  the 
basis  of  English  jurisprudence, and  is  generally  esteemed 
the   origin  of  our  common  law. 

Alfred  appointed  regular  meetings  of  the  states  of 
England  twice  a-year  in  the  city  of  London,  which  he 
himself  had  repaired  and  beautified,  and  which  thence- 

16.  Sj>elm.  Gloss,  in  vcc.  Wapentake.  17.  Ingulph. 

18.  Le  Miruir  de  yustiee,  chap.  ii. 

fovtR 


XET.  XII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  107 

forth  became  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  Every  thing 
soon  wore  a  new  face  under  his  wise  and  equitable  go- 
vernment. Such  success  attended  his  legislation,  and 
so  exact  was  the  general  police,  that  he  is  said  to  have 
hung  up,  by  way  of  trial,  golden  bracelets  near  the 
high  roads,  and  no  man  cLared  to  touch  them"^.  But 
this  great  prince,  though  rigorous  in  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  which  he  wisely  considered  as  the  best 
means  of  repressing  crimes,  preserved  the  most  sacred 
regard  to  the  liberty  of  his  people.  His  concern  'on 
this  subject  extended  even  to  future  times,  and  ought 
to  endear  his  memory  to  every  Englishman.  "  It  is 
just,"  says  he  in  his  will,  "  that  the  English  should 
*'  forever  remain  free  as  their  own  thoughts-"." 
After  providing  for  the  security  of  his  kingdom, 
and  taming  his  subjects  to  the  restraints  of  law,  Al- 
fred extended  his  care  to  those  things  which  aggran- 
dize a  nation,  and  make  a  people  happy.  Sensible  that 
good  morals  and  knowledge  are  almost  inseparable  in 
every  age,  though  not  in  every  individual,  he  gave 
great  encouragement  to  the  pursuit  of  learning.  He 
invited  over  the  most  celebrated  scholars  from  all  parts 
of  Europe  :  he  established  schools  every  where  for  the 
instruction  of  the  ignorant :  he  founded,  or  at  least  re- 
paired, the  university  of  Oxford,  and  endowed  it  with 
many  privileges,  revenues,  and  immunities:  he  enjoined 
by  law  all  freeholders,  possessed  of  two  hides  of  land, 
to  send  their  children  to  school  ;  and  he  gave  prefer- 
•ment,  either  in  church  or  state,  to  such  only  as  had 
made  some  proficiency  in  knowledge^'.  But  the  most 
effectual  expedient  employed  by  Alfred  for  the  encou- 
ragement of  learning,  was  his  own  example,  and  the 
progress  which  he  made  in  science.  Notwithstanding 
the  multiplicity  of  civil  objects  which  engaged  his  atten- 

19.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  20.   Asser.  p.  24. 

21.  H.  Hunt,  lib.  vi.  A  hide  contained  laiid  sufficient  to  employ 
•ne  plough.  Gervase  of  Tilbury  s^ys,  it  commonly  consisted  of  an 
kundred  aeres. 

tion, 


|08  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

tion,  and  although  he  fought  in  person  fifty-six  battles 
by  sea  and  land,  this  illusti-ious  hero  and  legislator  was 
able  to  acquire  by  his  unremitted  industry,  during  a  life 
of  no  extraordinary  length,  more  knowledge,  and  even 
to  produce  more  books,  than  most  speculative  men,  in 
more  fortunate  ages,  who  have  devoted  their  whole  time 
to  study.  He  composed  a  variety  of  poems,  fables, 
and  apt  stories,  to  lead  the  untutored  mind  to  the  love 
of  letters,  and  bend  the  heart  to  the  practice  of  virtue. 
For  the  same  purpose  he  translated  from  the  Greek  the 
instructive  fables  of  Esop.  He  also  gave  Saxon  trans- 
lations of  the  histories  of  Orosius  and  Bede,  and  of 
the  Consolation  of  Philosophy,  by  Boetius". 

Alfred  was  no  less  attentive  to  the  propagation  of 
those  mechanical  arts,  which  have  a  more  sensible, 
though  not  a  more  intimate  connection  with  the  wel- 
fare of  a  state.  He  introduced  and  encouraged  manu- 
factures of  all  kinds,  and  suifered  no  inventor  or  im- 
prover of  any  useful  or  ingenious  art  to  go  unreAVarded. 
He  prompted  men  of  activity  and  industry  to  apply 
themselves  to  navigation,  and  to  push  commerce  into 
the  most  distant  countries  ;  and  he  set  apart  a  seventh 
portion  of  his  own  revenue  for  maintaining  a  number 
of  workmen  whom  he  employed  in  rebuilding  the 
ruined  cities  and  castles. 

The  elegancies  of  life  are  said  to  have  been  brought 
to  him,  even  from  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Indies^^; 
and  his  subjects  seeing  these  desirable  productions,  and 
the  means  of  acquiring  riches  by  trade,  were  taught  to 
respect  those  peaceful  virtues  by  which  alone  such 
blessings  can  be  earned  or  insured. 

This  extraordinary  man,  who  is  justly  considered, 
both  by  natives  and  foreigners,  as  the  greatest  prince 
after  Charlemagne  that  Europe  saw  for  several  ages, 
and  as  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  that  ever  adorned  the 

^^,    annals   of  any  nation,  died  in  the  year  901, 
A.  D.  901.  .  .  . 

in  the  vigour  of  his,  age  and  the  full  strength 

22.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  23.  Id.  ibid. 

of 


LET.  XIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE  i09 

of  his  faculties,  after  a  life  of  fifty-three  years,  and  a 
glorious  reign  of  twenty-nine  years  and  a  half.  His 
merit,  both  in  public  and  private  life,  may  be  set  in 
opposition  to  that  of  any  sovereign  or  citizen  in  ancient 
or  modern  times.  He  seems  indeed,  as  is  observed 
by  an  elegant  and  profound  historian^^,  to  be  the  com- 
plete model  of  that  perfect  character,  which,  under  the 
denomination  of  a  sage,  or  truly  wise  man,  philoso- 
phers have  been  so  fond  of  delineaiing  without  the 
hopes  of  ever  seeing  it  realized. 


LETTER  XIII. 


EMPIRE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE  AND  THE  CHURCH,  FROM  THE 
DEATH  OF  CHARLES  THE  BALD,  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  LEWIS 
IV.  WHEN  THE  IMPERIAL  DIGNITY  WAS  TRANSLATED 
FROM  THE  FRENCH  TO  THE  GERMANS. 


X  HE  continent  of  Europe,  my  dear  Philip, 
toward  the  close  of  the  ninth  century,  offers  nothing  to 
our  view  but  calamities,  disorders  revolutions,  and  an- 
archy. Lewis  the  Stammerer,  son  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
may  be  said  to  have  bought  the  crown  of  France  at  the 

price,  and  on  the  conditions,  which  the  bish-  _ 

A.  D.  S77 
ops  and  nobles  were  pleased   to    impose    on     '     * 

him.  He  was  not  acknowledged  till  after  he  had  heap- 
ed lands,  honours  and  offices  on  the  nobility  ;  and  pro- 
mised that  the  clergy   should  enjoy  the  same   emolu- 

24.  Home,  vol.  i. 

ments, 


no  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

ments,  and  the  same  privileges,  which  they  had  pos- 
sessed under  Lewis  the  Debonnaire'. 

Pope  John  VIII.  made  an  effort  to  get  Lewis  elect- 
ed emperor,  in  the  room  of  his  father,  by  the  Italian 
states  ;  but  not  being  able  to  carry  his  point,  he  retired 
into  France,  and  held  a  council  at  Troyes,  where  he 
excommunicated  the  Duke  of  Spoleto,  and  the  marquis 
of  Tuscany  for  opposing  his  measures,  and  attacking 
the  ecclesiastical  state.  One  of  the  canons  of  this  coun- 
cil is  very  remarkable  ;  it  expressly  asserts,  that  *'  the 
*'^  po'wers  of  the  world  shall  not  dare  to  seat  themselves 
*'  in  the  presence  of  bishops  unless  desired*. 

Lewis  the  Stammerer  died  in  879,  after  a  reign  of 
about   eighteen    months,  and  left  his  queen 

A        Tl       R^Q  'J. 

Adelaide  pregnant.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Lewis  III.  and  Carloman  II.  two  sons  by  a  former  wife, 
whom  he  had  divorced.  Duke  Boson,  father-in-law  to 
Carloman,  procured  them  the  crown,  that  he  might 
afterwards  share  the  monarchy.  By  his  intrigues  with 
the  pope  and  the  clergy,  he  got  a  council  to  declare 
the  necessity  of  erecting  a  new  kingdom  :  and  they 
bestowed  by  the  divine  inspiration,  to  use  their  own 
language,  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  or  Provence,  upon  this 
ambitious  duke-\  Italy  was  in  possession  of  Carloman, 
king  of  Bavaria,  who  had  also  seized  part  of  Lorrain, 
and  the  French  nobility  already  enjoyed  most  of  the 
lands  ;  so  that  a  king  of  France  retained  little  more 
than  the  mere  shadow  of  royalty. 

On  the  death  of  Lewis  and  Carloman,  the  joint 
kings  of  France,  who  lived  in  harmony  notwithstanding 
their  confined  situation;  their  brother  Charles,  born 
after  his  father's  death,  and  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Simple,  ought  to  have  succeeded  to  the  monarchy,  by 
the  right  of  birth  ;  but  as  he  was  only  five  years  old, 
and  the  nobility  were  desirous  of  a  king  capable  of 
governing,  or  at  least  were  afraid  of  the   advancement 

1.  Aimorv.  lil).  5.     2.  Concil.  Gall.  torn.  iii.        3.  Id.  ibid. 

of 


lET.  xiii.J        MODERN  EUROPE.  Ill 

of  Hugh,  surnamed  the  Abbot,  to  the  regency  (a  noble-* 
man  of  great  integrity  and  abilities),  they 
elected  Charles  the  Fat,  son  of  Lewis  the 
German,  already  emperor,  and  successor  to  his  two 
brothers'*.  He  re-united  in  his  person  all  the  French 
empire,  except  the  kingdom  of  the  usurper  Boson;  and 
proved,  what  those  who  elected  him  had  not  sufficiently 
attended  to,  if  they  meant  the  v/elfare  of  the  state. 
That  a  prince  may  conduct  his  sffairs  with  judgment, 
■while  confined  within  a  moderate  conr^pass,  and  yet  be 
very  unfit  for  the  government  of  a  great  empire. 

The  incapacity,  and  even  the  cowardice  of  Charles, 
became  soon  too  obvious  to  be  denied.  Though  he  had 
governed  his  paternal  dominions  without  any  visible  de- 
fect of  judgment,  and  raised  himself  to  the  empire  by 
his  reputation  and  address,  his  mind,  instead  of  expand- 
ing itself  to  its  new  object,  even  shrunk  from  it,  and 
contracted  itself,  till  every  mark  of  abilities  disappeared. 
After  disgracing  himself  by  ceding  Friezland  to  the 
Normans,  and  promising  them  a  tribute  for  forbearance, 
he  roused  them  by  his  perfidy,  while  he  encouraged 
them  by  his  weakness.  Enraged  at  the  death  of  their 
king,  who  had  been  invited  to  a  conference  and  mur- 
dered, they  entered  France:  penetrated  as  far  as  Pon- 
toise,  burnt  that  city,  and  besieged  Parish. 

This  siege  is  much  celebrated  by  the  French  histo- 
rians: prodigies  are  related  of  both  sides.  Eudes, 
count  of  Paris,  whom  we  shall  soon  see  on  the  throne 
of  France;  his  brother  Robert;  bishop  Goslin;  and  after 
his  death,  bishop  Anscheric,  and  abbot  Eble,  nephew  to 
Goslin,  were  particularly  distinguished  by  their  valour 
and  patriotism.  The  besieged  defended  themselves 
more  than  a  year  against  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 
men,  and  the  combined  efforts  of  courage  and  stratagem, 
before  the  emperor  came  to  their  relief.  At  length, 
Charles   appeared  on  the  mountain  of  Monjmart,  with 

4  Aimon.  lib.  v.  5.  Chron.  de  Gest.  Norm. 

the 


112  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the   %vho!e  militia  of  his    dominions  under  arms,  fully 

persuaded  that  the   Normans  would  retire  at 

AD    887 
the  sight  of  his  standards".      But   he   soon 

found  his  mistake:  they  did  not  shew  the  smallest  alarm; 
and  Charles,  preferring  a  shameful  negociation  to  a 
doubtful  victory,  engaged  to  pay  them  a  prodigious  ran- 
som for  his  capital,  and  the  safety  of  his  kingdom.  Nay, 
what  was  stiil  more  disgraceful,  not  being  able  to  raise 
the  money  till  the  spring,  it  being  then  the  month  of 
November,  he  permitted  the  Normans  to  winter  in  Bur- 
gundy, which  had  not  yet  acknowledged  his  authority  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  to  continue  their  ravages,  which  they 
did  with  the  most  insatiable  fury^. 

This  ignominious  treaty,  and  its  consequences,  en- 
tirely ruined  the  emperor's  reputation,  which  was  already 
low.  He  had  no  minister  in  whom  he  could  confide: 
for  he  was  neither  loved  nor  feared.  The  Germans 
first  revolted.  Charles  had  incurred  the  hatred  of  the 
nobility  by  attempting  to  limit  the  hereditary  fiefs;  and 
he  made  the  clergy  his  enemies,  while  he  exposed  himself 
to  universal  contempt,  by  prosecuting  Ludard,  bishop  of 
Verceil,  his  prime  minister,  and  the  only  person  of  au- 
thority ^n  his  service,  on  a  suspicion  of  a  criminal  cor- 
respondence with  the  empress  Rachel,  whom  he  impri- 
soned, and  who  completed  his  disgrace.  She  kept  no 
measures  with  him:  she  affirmed,  that  she  was  not  only 
innocent  of  the  crime  laid  to  her  charge,  but  a  pure  vir- 
gin, yet  untouched  by  her  husband  and  her  accuser;  in 
support  of  which  asseveration  she  offered  to  undergo  any 
trial  that  should  be  assigned  her,  according  to  the  super- 
stitious custom  of  those  times,  when  an  absurd  appeal  to 
heaven  supplied  the  place  of  a  jmy  of  matrons,  and  in- 
sisted on  being  admitted  to  her   purgations.      Ludard 

fostered  the  ceneral  discontent;  and  Charles 
A.  D.  888.  ,  ,  ?         ,.         p   ,  '   .  , 

was  deposed  m  a  diet  of  the  empire,  and  ne- 

6.  Paul  ^mil.  de  Gest.  Franc.  7.  Chron.  Gest.  Norm. 

^cted 


LET.  X.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  113 

glected  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  be  obliged  to  subsist  by 
the  liberality  of  the  bishop  of  Mentz^. 

Arnold,  the  bastard  son  of  Carloman,  late  king  of 
Bavaria,  and  grandson  of  Lewis  the  German,  was  now 
raised  to  the  imperial  dignity.  Italy  submitted  alter- 
nately to  Berengarius,  duke  of  Friuli,  and  Guido,  or 
Guy,  duke  of  Spoleto,  both  of  the  family  of  Charle- 
magne, by  the  mother's  side.  Their  competitions  were 
long  and  bloody.  Count  Eudes,  whose  valour  had 
saved  Paris,  and  whose  father,  Robert  the  Strong,  had 
been  no  less  brave  and  illustrious,  was  elected  king  of 
France;  which  he  agreed  to  hold  in  trust  for  Charles 
the  Simple,  yet  a  minor'. 

But  France,  notwithstanding  the  courage  and  talents 
of  Eudes,  w  as  still  a  scene  of  contention  and  disorder. 
A  faction  pretended  to  assert  the  right  of  the  hiwful 
heir,  who  was  not  really  injured,  and  Eludes  ceded  to 
him  the  greater  part  of  the  kingdom.  Count  Ralph,  or 
Rodolph,  established  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy  Trans- 
juran  (so  called  on  account  of  its  relation  to  mount  Jura), 
which  comprehended  nearly  the  present  Switzerland  and 
Franche  Comte.  A  council  confirmed  to  Lewis,  the  sou 
of  Boson,  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  as  a  council  had  given 
it  to  his  father'".  History  would  be  nothing  but  a  mere 
chaos,  were  it  to  comprehend  all  the  effects  of  violence, 
treachery,  and  anarchy,  that  disgraced  this  period.  I 
shall  therefore  only  notice  the  leading  circumstances, 
which  alone  deserve  your  attention. 

Eudes  died  in  898,  without  being  able  to  remedy  the 

disorders  of  the  state  :  and  Charles  the  Simple, 

\    T)    898 
but  too  justly  so  named,  now  acknowledged 

king  of  France  in  his  own  right,  increased  by  his  weak- 
ness the  prevailing  evils.  The  nobles  aspired  openly  at^ 
independency.  They  usurped  the  governments  with 
which  they  had  been  intrusted,  and  extorted  confirma- 

8.  Annal.  Fuldens.  Regln.  Chronicon. 

9.  Annal.  Metens.  10.  Regin.  Chron. 
VOL.  I.                              u  tions 


m  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

tions  of  them  from  Charles  for  themselves  and  their 
heirs,  on  the  easy  condition  of  an  etnpty  homage".  A 
large,  and  once  well-regulated  kingdom,  was  divided 
into  a  multitude  of  separate  principalities,  altogether 
independent  of  the  crown,  or  dependent  only  in  name, 
whose  possessors  waged  continual  wars  with  each  other, 
and  exercised  an  insupportable  tyranny  over  their  de- 
pendents, their  vassals,  and  sub-vassals  2.  By  these 
means,  the  great  body  of  the  people  was  either  reduced 
to  a  state  of  absolute  servitude,  or  to  a  condition  so  pre- 
carious aiid  wretched,  that  they  were  often  happy  to  ex- 
change it  for  protection  and  slavery'^. 

The  Normans  took  advantage  of  this  state  of  weak- 
ness and  anarchy,  to  establish  themselves  in  France. 
RoUo,  one  of  their  most  illustrious  leaders,  and  truly  a 
great  captain,  after  having  spread  terror  over  all  the  mari- 
time provincesof  Europe,  sailedupthe Seine,  took  Rovien, 
fortiSed    it,  and  made   it  his   head-quarters 

A.    D.    905.    T.,  re  1  11 

J\ow  sure  01  a  sate  retreat,  he  set  no  bounds 
to  his  depredations;  and  soon  became  so  formidable, 
that  Charles  offered  him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  with 
the  province  of  Neustria,  as  her  dower.  Francon,  arch- 
bishop of  Rouen,  was  charged  with  the  negociation.  He 
only  demanded  that  Rollo  should  acknowledge  Charles 
as  his  superior,  and  become  a  christian;  and,  in  order 
to  induce  the  Norman  to  embrace  the  faith,  the  prelate 
preached  of  a  future  state,  of  hell,  and  of  heaven.  Inte- 
rest, not  superstition,  determined  Rollo.  After  con- 
sulting his  soldiers,  who,  like  most  gentlemen  of  the 
sword,  were  very  easy  on  the  article  of  religion,  he 
agreed  to  the  treaty;  on  condition  that  the  province  of 
Bretagne  also  should  be  ceded  to  him,  till  Neustria,  then 
entirely  laid  waste  by  the  ravages  of  his  coun- 
trymen,  could  be   cultivated.     His   request 

11.  Orig.  de  Dignitez  et  de  Magist.  de  France,  par  P.  Fauchet. 

12.  Id.  ibid. 

13.  L'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxx. 

was 


LET.  XII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  115 

was  granted:   he  was  baptized,  and  did  homage  for  his 
crown,  less  as  a  vassal  than  a  conqueror'*. 

Rollo  was  worthy  of  his  good  fortune;  he  sunk  the 
soldier  in  the  sovereign,  and  proved  himself  no  less 
skilled  in  the  arts  of  peace  than  those  of  war.  Neustria, 
which  henceforth  took  the  name  of  Normandy,  in  honour 
of  its  new  inhabitants,  soon  became  happy  and  flourishing 
under  his  laws.  Sensible  that  the  power  of  a  prince  is  al- 
ways in  proportion  to  the  number  of  his  subjects,  he  in- 
vited the  better  soi't  of  Normans  from  all  parts  to  come  and 
settle  in  his  dominions.  He  encouraged  agriculture  and 
industry;  was  particularly  severe  in  punishing  theft, 
robbery,  and  every  species  of  violence;  and  rigidly  exact 
in  the  administration  of  justice,  which  he  saw  was  th& 
great  basis  of  policy,  and  without  which  his  people  would 
naturally  return  to  their  former  irregularities'"'.  A  taste 
for  the  sweets  of  society  increased  with  the  convenien- 
cies  of  life,  and  the  love  of  justice  with  the  benefits  de- 
rived from  it:  so  that  the  duchy  of  Normandy  was  in  a 
short  time  not  only  populous  and  cultivated,  but  the 
Normans  were  regular  in  their  manners,  and  obedient  to 
the  laws.  A  band  of  pirates  became  good  citizens,  and 
their  leader  the  ablest  prince,  and  the  wisest  legislator  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

While  these   things  passed  in   France,   great  altera-, 
tions  took  place  in  the  neighbouring  states,  and  among 

14.  When  he  came  to  the  last  part  of  the  ceremony,  which  was  that 
of  kneeling-  and  kissing  the  king's  toe,  he  positively  refused  compliance  ; 
and  it  was  with  much  difficulty  he  could  be  persuaded  to  maJic  that  com. 
pliment,  even  by  one  of  his  officers.  At  length,  however,  he  agreed  to 
the  alternative.  But  all  the  Normans,  it  seems,  were  bad  courtiers;  for 
the  officer  commissioned  to  represent  Rollo,  despising  so  unwarlike  a 
prince  as  Charles,  caughtlus  majesty  by  the  foot, "and pretending  to  carry 
it  to  hi&  mouth,  that  he  might  kiss  it,  overturned  both  him  and  his  chair, 
before  all  his  nobility.  This  insult  was  passed  over  as  an  accident,  be- 
cause the  French  nation  was  iu  no  condition  to  revenge  it.  Gul.  Gemet. 
Cbron.  de  Dues  de  Normandie. 

15.  Qui.  Gemet,  iibi  sup,  Didon.  de  Morib.  et  Act.  de  Norm.  Dtic. 

the 


lid  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  princes  of  the  blood  of  Charlemagne.  The  most 
remarkable  only  merit  your  attention.  Arnold,  king  of 
Germany,  and  emperor  of  the  West,  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  Lewis  IV.  only  seven  years  of  age.  Another 
Lewis,  king  of  Aries,  and  son  of  the  usurper  Boson,  cros- 
sed the  Alps,  and  obliged  pope  Benedict  IV.  to  crown 
him  emperor.  But  he  was  soon  after  surprised  at  Ve- 
rona by  Berengarius,  who  put  out  his  eyes,  and  ascended 
the  throne  of  Italy,  which  he  had  long  disputed  with  the 
emperor  Arnold'^  In  the  mean  time  Lewis 
IV.  died,  and  the  empire  departed  from  the 
French  to  the  Germans;  from  the  family  of  Charlemgne, 
to  those  Saxons  whom  he  had  subdued  and  persecuted; 
who  became,  in  their  turn,  the  protectors  of  that  religion 
for  which  they  had  suffered  and  the  persecutoi-s  of  other 
Pagans.    But  this  revolution  deserves  a  particular  Letter. 


LETTER  XIV. 


THE    GERMAN  KMPIRE,  FR03I   THE  ELF.CTION  OF  CONRAD  I.  T9 
THE  DEATH  OF  HENRY   THE   FOWLER. 


OOME  historians,  my  dear  Philip,  are  of  opi- 
nion, that  the  German  empire  does  not  properly  com- 
mence till  the  reign  of  Otho  the  Great,  when 
Italy  was  reunited  to  the  imperial  dominions; 
but  the  extinction  of  the  rare  of  Charlemagne  in  Germa- 
ny, where  the  empire  was  wholly  detached  from  France, 
and  the  imperial  dignity  became  elective,  seems  to  me 
the  most  natural  period  to  fix  its  origin,  though  the  two 
first  emperors  never  received  the  papal  sanction.     I  shall 

16.  Annal.  Metent. 

therefore 


LET.  XIV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  ^17 

therefore  begin  with  Conrad,  the  first  German  who  ruled 
the  empire,  after  it  ceased  to  be  considered  as  an  appen- 
dage of  France. 

Though  the  successors  of  Charlemagne  possessed 
that  empire  which  he  had  formed  by  virtue  of  hereditary" 
descent,  they  had  usually  procured  the  consent  of  the 
nobles  to  their  testamentary  deeds,  that  no  dispute  might 
arise  in  regard  to  the  succession.  This  precaution  was 
highly  necessary  in  those  turbulent  times,  especially  as 
the  imperial  dominions  Avere  generally  divided  among  the 
children  of  the  reigning  family,  who  vvere  by  that  means 
put  in  a  better  condition  to  contest  a  doubtful  title.  What 
was  at  first  no  more  than  a  political  condescension  in  the 
emperors,  became  gradually  to  be  interpreted  into  a  pri- 
vilege of  the  nobility,  and  hence  originated  the  right  of 
those  electors,  by  whom  the  emperor  is  still  invested  with 
the  imperial  power  and  dignity.  They  had  already  depo- 
sed Charles  the  Fat,  and  raised  to  the  empire  Arnold,  bas- 
tard of  Carloman,  king  of  Bavaria'. 

Thus  authorised  by  custom,  the  German  nobles 
assembled  at  Worms,  on  the  death  of  Lewis  IV.  and 
not  judging  Charles  the  Simple  worthy  to  govern 
them,  they  offered  the  imperial  crown  to  Otho,  duke  of 
Saxony."  But  he  declined  it,  on  account  of  his  age; 
and  with  a  generosity  peculiar  to  himself,  recommen- 
ded to  the  electors  Conrad,  count  of  Franconia,  though 
his  enemy.  Conrad  was  accordingly  chosen  by  the 
diet.  The  empire  of  Germany  then  comprehended 
Franconia,  the  provinces  of  Bamberg,  Suabia,  Constans, 
Basil,  Bern,  Lausanne,  Burgundy,  Bezancon,  Lorrain, 
Metz,  Liege,  Cambray,  Arras,  Flanders,  Holland,  Zea- 
land, Utrecht,  Cologne,  Treves,  Ments,  Worms,  Spire, 
Strasbourg, Friezland,  Saxony, Hesse,  Westphalia,  Thu- 
ringia,  Wateravia,  Misnia,  Brandenburg,  Pomerania, 
Rugen,  Stetin,  Holstein,  Austria,  Carinthia,  Stiria,  the 
Tyroles,  Bavaria,  the  Grisons;   and  in  general,  itll  the 

1.  See  Let.  x. 

countries 


U9  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

countries  situated  among  these  provinces,  and  their  de- 
pendencies. 

The  reign  of  Conrad  I.  was  one  continued  scene 
of  troubles,  though  he  took  every  necessary  measure  to 
support  his  authority  and  preserve  the  tranquillity  of  the 
empire.  He  was  no  sooner  elected  than  he  had  occasion 
to  march  into  Lorrain  ;  where  the  nobility,  being  at- 
tached to  the  family  of  Charlemagne,  acknowledged 
Charles  the  Simple  as  their  sovereign,  and  offered  to 
put  him  in  possession  of  that  country.  Before  Conrad 
could  settle  the  affairs  of  Lorrain,  he  was  recalled  by  the 
revolt  of  several  powerful  dukes,  who  had  envied  his  pro- 
motion. One  rebellion  succeeded  another;  and,  to  com- 
plete his  misfortunes,  the  Huns,  or  Hungarians,  invaded 
the  empire.  They  had  for  some  time  been  accustomed 
to  pass  the  entrenchments  formed  by  Charlemagne 
along  the  Raab,  in  order  to  restrain  their  incursions, 
and,  no  less  fierce  than  their  ancestors,  they  had  laid 
every  thing  waste  before  them,  and  borne  down  all  oppo- 
sition. In  901  they  ravaged  Bavaria,  Suabia,  Franco- 
nia;  all  Germany  felt  their  fury.  Lewis  IV.  submitted 
to  pay  them  an  annual  tribute.  They  had  several  times 
pillaged  Italy:  and  now  in  their  Avay  from  that  country, 
where  they  had  humbled  Berengarius  (taking  advantage 

of  the  troubles  of  the   empire"),  they  made 
\.  D.  917.  .  ,       .      .  . 

*  irruptions  into  Saxony,  Thuringia,Franconia, 

Lorrain,  and  Alsace,  which  they  desolated  v/ith  fire  and 

sword,  and  obliged  Conrad  to  purchase  a  peace  on  the 

most  shameful  conditions'.   He  died  without  male  heirs, 

in  919,  after  recommending  to  the   Germanic  body  as 

his  successor,  Henry  duke  of  Saxony,  son  of  that  Otho 

to  whom  he  owed  his  crown. 

Ilenrv  I.  surnamed  the  Fowler,  because  he  delighted 

much  in  the  pursuit  of  birds,  was  elected  with 
A    D    9iiO  • 

*  universal  approbation  by  the  assembled  states ; 

composed  of  the  dignified  clergy,  the  principal  nobility, 
and  the  heads  of  the  army. 

2.  Ann.  Hildist.  Annal.  German,  ap  struv,   Corp.  Hist.  vol.  i. 

This 


LET.  XIV.]  MODERN  EUflOPE.  119 

This  riglitof  chusingan  emperor,  originally  common 
to  all  the  members  of  the  Germanic  body,  was  afterwards 
confined,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  to  seven  of 
the  chief  members  of  that  body,  considered  as  represen- 
tatives of  the  whole,  and  of  all  its  different  orders; 
namely,  the  archbishopsol  Mentz,  Cologne,  and  Treves, 
chancellors  of  the  three  great  districts  into  which  the 
German  empire  was  anciently  divided,  the  king  of  Bohe- 
mia, the  duke  of  Saxony,  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg, 
and  count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine^ 

It  was  still  undecided  whether  Lorrain  should  be- 
long to  France  or  Germany.     Henry,  as  soon 
A.  D,  925,  J         .  .  n  •        <Y-  •  1  1     " 

as  the  Situation  or  his  affairs  would  permit,  en- 
tered it  with  apowerful  army,  and  subdued  the  whole  coun- 
try. His  next  care  was  the  internal  peace  and  prospe- 
rity of  the  empire.  He  published  a  general  amnesty  in 
favour  of  all  thieves  and  banditti,  provided  they  would 
enlist  in  his  armies,  and  actually  formed  them  into  a 
troop.  He  created  marquises,  in  imitation  of  Charle- 
magne, to  guard  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  against  the 
barbarians,  and  obliged  all  vassals  and  sub-vassals  to 
furnish  soldiers, and  corn  for  their  subsistence*.  He  like- 
wise ordered  the  principal  towns  to  be  surrounded  with 
walls,  bastions,  and  ditches;  and  that  the  nobility  might 
be  habituated  to  tlie  use  of  arms,  even  in  time  of  peace, 
he  instituted  certain  military  games,  or  tournaments,  in 
which  they  vied  with  each  other  in  displaying  their 
valour  and  address. 

After  taking  these  wise  measures  for  the  welfare 
of  the  state,  Henry  began  to  prepare  for  war  against 
the  Hungarians,  whom  he  had  exasperated  by  refusing 
the  annual  composition,  and  other  marks  of 

A.  D    03*^ 

disdain  and  defiance.      Enraged  at  his  firm-    *     '  ^    '^' 
ness,  they  entered  Germany  with  an  army  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  breathing  vengeance.      But  Henry 
being  supported  by  the  whole  force  of  his  dominions, 

5,  Goldttts.  Politic,  imperial,  init.    4.  Ann.  Sax. 

though 


120  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

though  still  inferior  to  theirs,  defeated  them  with  great 
slaughter  at  Mersbourgh,  and  rescued  the  empire 
from  a  barbarous  enemy,  and  an  ignominous  tribute^. 

Having  thus  subdued  his  enemies,  and  secured  the 
tranquillity  of  his  subjects,  both  at  home,  and  abroad, 
the  emperor  began  to  taste  the  fruits  of  his  wisdom  and 
valour,  when  the  pope  and  the  citizens  of  Rome  invi- 
ted him  to  the  conquest  of  Italy,  still  distracted  by  civil 

wars,  ofrerinG-  him  the  holy  vinction,  and  the  ^   „ 

.  A.  D.  936. 
title  of  Augustus.  Henry,  who  was  ambi- 
tious to  be  master  of  Italy,  and  no  doubt  desirous  of 
the  papal  sanction  to  the  imperial  crown,  set  out  im- 
mediately for  that  country  at  the  head  of  his  troops ; 
but  being  seized  with  an  apoplexy  on  his  march,  he  was 
obliged  to  return,  and  died  at  Mansleben  in  Thuringia  . 
Before  his  death,  he  convoked  the  princes  of  the  empire, 
who  settled  the  succession  on  his  son  Otho. 

Henry  v/as  universally  allowed  to  be  the  ablest 
statesman,  and  the  greatest  prince  of  Europe  in  his 
time ;  but  his  successor  Otho,  afterwards  styled  the 
Great,  surpassed  him  both  in  power  and  renown,  though 
not  perhaps  in  valour  or  abilities.  For,  as  Voltaire 
well  observes,  the  acknowledged  heir  of  a  great  prince, 
who  has  been  the  founder  or  restorer  of  a  state,  is  always 
more  powerful  than  his  father,  if  not  very  much  inferior  in 
courage  and  talents: — and  the  reason  is  obvious.  He 
enters  on  a  career  already  opened  to  him,  and  begins 
where  his  predecessor  ended.  Hence  Alexander  went 
farther  than  Philip,  Charlemagne  than  Pepin,  and  Otho 
the  Great  than  Henry  the  Fowler.  But  before  I  pro- 
ceed to  the  reign  of  Otho,  we  must  take  a  view  of  the 
troubles  of  France  under  Charles  the  Simple,  and  his 
unhappy  successors  of  the  Carlovingian  race. 

5.  Engelhus.  p.  174.       6.  Jnn.  Sax. 

LETTER 


LET.  XV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  121 


LETTER  XV. 

FRANCE,  FROM   THE   SETTLEMENT    OB'    THE    NORMANS    TO   THE 
EXTINCTION  OF   THE   C ARLOVINGI AN   RACE. 

Y  OU  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  the 
usurpations  of  the  nobles,  and  the  settlement  of  the  Nor- 
mans in  France,  under   Charles  the    Simple.      He  gave 
daily  more  proofs  of  his  weakness,  and  became 
equally  contemptible  to  the  French  and  Nor- 
mans.     A  violent  attempt  was  made  to   dethrone  him 
b}'^  Robert  duke   of  France,   brother  to   Eudes,  the  late 
king.     This  rebellion  was  defeated,  in  the  first  instance, 
by  the  unexpected  answer  of  RoUo,  duke  of  Normandy, 
who  generously  declared,  when  solicited  to  join  in  it, 
that  he  was  equally  incapable  of  abetting  or  suffering  in- 
justice'!....Yet    Rollo,    as    we    have    seen,    was    once    a 
robber  by  profession.  But  then,  as  ought  to  be  observed 
in  his  vindication,  he  was  under  engagements  to  no  prince, 
and    claimed   the   protection  of  no  laws:    he   was  then 
on  a  footing  with  the  Csesars  and  the   Alexanders,   and 
now   only   inferior   in   power   to    the    Alfreds    and   the 
Charlemagnes. 

After  the  death  of  Rollo,  duke  Robert  renev/ed  his 
intrigues.  He  first  made  the  king  dismiss  Haganon,  his 
favourite  minister;  and  next  seized  that  minister's  trea- 
sures, with  v/hich  he  gratified  his  adherents. 

,  .  .      .         A.    D.   922. 

They  declared  Charles  incapable  of  reigning, 

and  proclaimed  Robert  king  of  France.      He  was  soon 

after  killed  in  battle,   yet  his  party  triumphed:  and  his 

son  Hugh  the  Great,  or  the  Abbot,  as  he  is  styled  by  some 

writers,  on  account  of  the  number  of  rich  abbles  which 

he  held,  had  the  crown  in  his  power.  But  he 

.  A.  D.  923 

chose   to  place  it  on  the  head  of  Rodolph, 

duke  of  Burgundy,  who  assumed  the  title  of  king,  and 

was  almost  universally  acknowledged^. 

1.  Flodoard.  Chron.     2.  Monach. 
VOL.  I.  X  In 


122  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

In  this  extremity,  Charles  had  recourse  to  William 
I.  duke  of  Normandy,  and  to  the  emperor  Henry  the  Fow- 
ler, who  were  preparing  to  assist  him,  when  he  was  decoy- 
ed by  the  treacherous  friendship  of  Herbert,  count  of  Ver- 
_ ,, ,  mandois,  into  the  fortress  of  Chatteau-Thierri, 
and  there  detained  prisoner.  The  unfortunate 
monarch  now  became  the  sport  of  the  ambition  of  his 
own  rebellious  subjects.      The  count  released  him,   and 

^^^    paid  homaoe  to  him  as  his  sovereign,  when 
A.    D.  929.  .        .  . 

he   wanted  to   gain   his   ends  with   Rodolph, 

and  shut  him  up  when  they  were  accomplished.  The 
county  of  Laon  was  the  price  of  Charles's  confinement. 
He  died  in  prison. 

After  the  death  of  Charles  the  Simple,  Rodolph 
acted  with  much  spirit  and  resolution.  He  repelled  the 
incursions  of  some  new  tribes  of  Normans,  restrained  the 
licentiousness  of  the  nobles,  and  restored  both  tranquil- 
lity and  vigour  to  the  kingdom.  But  as  this 
A.  D.  v3b.      ".  ^.    ,      .  ,  .  _, 

prnice  died  Avithout    issue,  r  ranee   was  again 

involved  in  troubles,  and  a  kind  of  interregnum  ensued. 
At  length  Hugh  the  Great,  still  disdaining  the  title  of 
king,  or  afraid  to  ^surp  it,  recalled  Charles's  son  Lewis, 
surnamed' the  Stranger,  from  England;  whither  he  had 
been  carried  by  his  mother  Egina,  daughter  of  Edward 
the  Elder,  and  grand-daughter  of  the  great  Alfred** 
She  had  taken  refuge  in  the  court  of  her  brother  Athelstan. 
Lewis  was  only  in  his  seventeenth  year  Avhen  he  was 
recalled,  and  in  a  great  measure  unacquainted  with  the 
affairs  of  France;  yet  he  conducted  himself  with  a  spirit 
l)ecoming  his  rank,  though  not  without  some  degree  of 
that  imprudence  natural  to  age.  He  attempted  to  rescue 
himself  from  the  tyranny  of  duke  Hugh,  who  had  been 
appointed  his  tutor,  and  allowed  him  little  more  than  the 
name  of  king.  But,  after  a  variety  of  struggles,  he  was 
obliged  to  make  peace  with  his  vassal,  and  confirm  to 
him  the  countv  of  Laon-'',  to  which  almost  the  whole 
royal  domain  \ras  reduced. 

3   Glab.  Iiist.  iui  temp.       4.  Flodoard.  Clron.  5.  Airr.on.   lib.  v. 

Lewis 


LET.  XV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  123 

Lewis  the  stranger  died  in  954,  and  left  a  shadow 

of  royalty  to  his  son  Lothario:  or  rather  Hucrh  ^    , 

AD    954. 
the  Great  was  pleased   to  grant  him  the  title 

of  king,   that  he  himself  might  enjoy  the  power^     This 

ambitious  nobleman,  no  less  formidable  than  the  ancient 

mayors,  died  in  955.      He  was  succeeded  in 

consequence   and  abilities  by  his  son   Hugh 

Capet,  whom  we  shall  soon  see  on  the  throne  of  France. 

Lothario  wanted  neither  courage  nor  ambition.  He 
attempted  to  recover  Lorrain,  which  had  been  for  some 
time  in  the  possession  of  the  emperors  of  Germany.  But 
Otho  IL  by  an  artful  stroke  of  policy,  disconcerted  his 
measures  and  ruined  his  reputation.  He  ceded  the  dis- 
puted territory  to  the  king's  brother  Charles,  on  condi- 
tion that  he  should  hold  it  as  a  fief  of  the  empire^.  Lo- 
thario, incensed  at  this  donation,  by  which  his  brother 
was  benefitted  at  the  expense  of  his  character,  his  interest, 
and  the  honour  of  his  crown,  assembled  a  powerful  army, 
and  marched  suddenly  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  he  sur- 
prised the  emperor,  and  put  him  to  flight. 
He  himself  was  vanquished,  in  his  turn,  and 
again  victorious^.  But,  after  all,  he  was  obliged  to  re- 
sign Lorrain,  which  was  divided  between  his  brother 
Charles  and  the  emperor  Otho. 

Lothario  died  in  996,  and  was  quietly  succeeded 
by  his  son  Lewis  V.  who  governed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Hugh  Capet,  during  a  short  regin  of  one  year 
and  two  months,  which  was  one  continued 
scene  of  troubles.  In  him  ended  the  Cai'lovin- 
gians,  or  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne,  the  second 
race  of  French  kings. ...The  affairs  of  the  empire  now 
(claim  your  attention. 

6.  Flodoard.   Ci'ron.      7,  Aimon.  lib.  v.     8.  Id.    ibid. 


LETTER 


12i  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 


LETTER  XVI. 

THE  GERMAN  E3IPIRE  AND  ITS  DEPENDENCIES,  ROME  AND  THE 
ITALIAN  STATES,  UNDER  OTHO  THE  GREAT,  AND  HIS  SUC- 
CESSORS  OF   THE   HOUSE  OF   SAXONY. 

WTHO    I.    the   most   powerful  emperor  since 

Charlemagne,  and  who  had  the  honour  of  re-uniting  Italy 

to  the  imperial  dominions,  was  elected  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 

in  ®36,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the   diet 
A.  D.  936.    ,  ui    1  J-        .       L 

there    assembled,    according  to    the    promise 

made  to  his  father  Henry  the   Fowler.      He  began   his 

reign  with  the  most  upright  administration,   and  seemed 

desirous  to  live  in  peace  and  tranquillity.     But  his  quiet 

was  soon  interrupted  by  wars  bo|h  foreign  and  domestic, 

which  he  had  suff.cient  abilities  to  manage,  and  which 

terminated  in  his  aggrandizement. 

The   Hungarians,    according  to  custom,    invaded  the 

empire,  committing  every  species  of  barbarity.     Otho, 

however,  soon  put  a  stop  to  their  ravages.     He  came  up 

with  them  on  the  plain  of  Dortmund,  in  Westphalia,  and 

1.  The  diets  of  the  German  empire  were  originally  the  same  with  the 
national  assemblies  held  by  the  kings  of  France.  They  met  at  least  once 
a  year,  and  every  freeman  had  a  right  to  be  present.  They  were  great 
councils,  in  which  the  sovereign  deliberated  with  his  subjects,  concerning 
their  common  interests.  But  when  the  nobles  and  dignified  clergy  acquired 
with  the  rank  of  princes,  territorial  and  independent  jurisdiction,  the  diet 
became  an  assembly  of  the  separate  states  that  formed  the  confederacy  of 
which  the  emperor  was  the  head :  and  in  which,  if  any  member  possessed 
more  than  one  of  those  states,  he  was  allowed  a  proportional  number  of 
suffrages.  On  the  same  principle  the  imperial  cities,  as  soon  as  they  be- 
came free,  and  acquired  supreme  and  independent  jurisdiction  within  their 
own  territories,  were  received  as  members  of  the  diet.  (Alrum?eus  de 
Comitiis  Rom.  German.  Imperii.  )  The  powers  of  the  diet  extended  to 
every  thing  relative  to  the  common  interests  of  the  Germanic  body,  as  a 
jpnfedcracy,  but  not  to  the  interior  government  of  the  different  states, 
unless  when  domestic  disorders  disturbed  or  threatened  the  peace  of  the 
Empire.      Psessel.  Abrege. 

defeated 


LET.  XVI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  125 

defeated  them  with  great  slaughter.  But  the  Hunga- 
rians wei*e  not  the  only  enemy  that  Otho  had  to  encoun- 
ter. Immediately  after  his  return  from  this 
victory,  he  was  informed  that  the  Bohemians 
had  revolted.  Bohemia  was  then  entirely  barbarous,  and 
mostly  pagan.  Otho,  after  a  variety  of  struggles,  ren- 
dered it  tributary  to  Germany,  and  also  obliged  the  in- 
habitants to  embrace  Christianity\ 

In  the  mean  time  the  emperor  was  engaged  in  many 
disputes  with  his  own  rebellious  subjects.  Arnold,  dukd 
of  Bavaria,  being  dead,  his  son  Everhard  refused  to  do 
homage  to  Otho,  on  pretence  that  he  was  not  his  vassal, 
but  his  ally.  This  struggle  between  the  crown  and  the 
great  fiefs,  between  power  which  always  seeks  increase, 
and  liberty  which  aspires  at  independency,  for  a  long  time 
agitated  Europe.  It  subsisted  in  Spain,  whilst  the 
Christians  had  to  contend  with  the  disciples  of  Mahomet; 
but  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors,  the  sovereign  au- 
thority got  the  ascendant.  It  was  this  competition  that 
involved  France  in  troubles  till  the  middle  of  the  reign 
of  Lewis  XI.  when  the  feudal  lordships  were  gradually 
stript  of  their  power,  and  the  nobles  reduced  to  a  depen- 
dence on  the  prince;  that  established  in  England  the 
mixed  government,  to  which  we  owe  our  present  great- 
ness, and  cemented  in  Poland  the  liberty  of  the  nobles  with 
the  slavery  of  the  people.  The  same  spirit  hath,  at  differ- 
ent times,  troubled  Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  founded  the 
republics  of  Holland  and  Swisserland:  the  same  cause 
hath  almost  every  where  produced  different  effects! — 
The  prerogatives  of  the  prince  have,  in  some  instances, 
as  in  that  of  the  German  empire,  been  reduced  to  a  mere 
title,  and  the  national  union  itself  preserved  only  in  the 
observance  of  a  few  insignificant  formalities.  The  duke 
of  Bavaria  was  not  willing  to  observe  even  these  for- 
malities; Otho  therefoi'e  entered  that  country  with  an 
army,  expelled  Everhard,  and  bestowed  the  duchy  upon 

2.  Dubrav.  Hist,  Bohem. 

his 


136  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

his  uncle  Bartoif,   who  willingly  did  homage    for  such 
a  presents  The  emperor  at  the  same  time  cre- 
ated one  of  Everhard's  brothers  count  palatine 
of  Bavaria  and  the  other  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine. 

The  dignity  of  count  palatine  was  revived  from  thft 
counts  of  the  palace  of  the  Roman  and  the  French  em- 
perors. These  palatines  were  at  first  supreme  judges, 
and  gave  judgment  in  the  last  appeal,  in  the  name  of 
the  emperor.  They  were  also  entrusted  with  the  go- 
vernment of  the  imperial  domains. 

Otho  having  thus  settled  the  internal  tranquillity  of 
the  empire,  (which  however  was  soon  dis- 
'turbed  by  the  rebellion  of  his  brother)  assem- 
bled a  diet  at  Arensberg,  where  among  other  things  it 
was  debated,  whether  inheritance  should  descend  in  a 
direct  line  ;  whether,  for  example,  a  grandson,  heir  to 
an  elder  son,  should  succeed,  on  the  death  of  his  grand- 
father, in  preference  to  his  uncles.  The  diet  not  being 
able  to  come  to  any  determination  on  this  point,  though 
so  clear  according  to  our  present  ideas  of  inheritance, 
it  was  agreed  that  the  cause  which  had  suggested  the 
doubt,  should  be  decided  by  (iuel.  An  equal  number 
of  combatants  were  accordingly  chosen  on  both  sides  ; 
and  the  suit  was  determined  in  favour  of  the  grandson, 
his  champions  being  victorious-t.  'I'he  decision  by  arms 
was,  for  once  consistent  with  equity  :  the  law  is  now 
xmiversal.  This  mode  of  trial  soon  became  general 
t)ver  Europe  ;  and  under  the  following  reign  a  diet  or- 
dained, that  doubtful  cases  should  no  longer  be  decided 
upon  oath,  but  by  the  sword^.  The  base  at  least  were, 
by  that  ordinance,  deprived  of  the  advantages  which 
they  might  have  reaped  from  perjury,  whatever  other 
incon,veniencies  might  attend  if'.  And  the  regulation 
itself  proves  the  baseness  as  well  as  the  ignorance  of 
the  age. 

3.  Baare,  Hht.  d'AHemagne,  torn.  iii.  4.  Td.  ib, 

5.  Le^.  Larignb.  lib.  ii. 

6.  This  reason  is  actually  assigned,  in  a  barbarian  code,  in  favour  cf 
the  judicial  combat,  in  cases  where  an  oath  might  settle  the  dispute.  Le^;- 
Bur2rcnd.  tit,  xhv 

In 


LET.xvi.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  12r 

In  order  to   counterbalance    the  power   of  tuc   no- 
bility,   Otho    augmented  the    privileges    of 
the  German  clergy.    He  conferred  on  them 
dutchies  and  counties,  with  all  the  rights  of  other  prin- 
ces and  nobles  :  and,  like  Charlemagne,  the  founder  of 
that  empire,  who§e   lustre  he   restored,  he  propagated 

Christianity  by  force  of  arms.      He  obliged  ^^^ 

,      ^  -^     -^        ,  .  .,  ,  °        A.  D.  948. 

the  Danes  to  pay  him  tribute,  and  receive 

baptism;  as  an  earnest  of  their  good  behaviour.  The 
Bohemians  as  I  have  already  observed,  were  also  sub- 
jected to  the  same  conditions. 

No  sooner  did  Otho  find  himself  in  quiet  posses- 
sion of  the  North,  than  the  South  attracted  his  eye  : 
and  a  favourable  opportunity  now  offered  for  gratify- 
ing his  ambition  without  injury  to  his  humanity.  Italy 
was  torn  by  factions,  and  ruled  by  tyrants.  Rodolph  II. 
king  of  the  two  Burgundies,  had  dethroned  Berengarius, 
and  being  himself  dethroned  by  Hugh,  marquis  of  Pro- 
vence, whose  son  Lothario  was  also  dethroned  by  Beren- 
garius II.  This  Berengarius  kept  Adelaida,  the  widow 
of  Lothario,  in  confinement.      She   invited  Otho  to  her 

relief.      He    entered    Italy  at  the  head   of  a  

.  .       A.  D.  952. 

powerful  army;  delivered   Adelaida,  married 

her,  and  obliged  Bereftgarius  to  take  an  oath  of  fealty, 
generously  leaving  him  in  possession  of  the  kingdom^. 

The  pleasure  which  Otho  must  have  received  from 
the  conquest  of  Italy,  was  allayed  by  the  revolt  of  his 
son  Ludolphus;  who,  though  already  declared  successor 
to  the  empire,  was  so  much  chagrined  at  his  father's  se- 
cond marriage,  that  he  engaged  in  a  rebellion  against  him 
with  the  duke  of  Franconia,  and  other  German  noblemen. 
Pursued  by  the  vigilance  of  the  emperor,  Ludolphus  took 
refuge  in  Ratisbon,  wliere  he  was  soon  reduced  to  extre- 
mity.   At  the  intercession  of  his  friends,  however,  he  was 

permitted  to  retire  v^ith  his^  followers.       He 

'nil.  •  r^        ^  A.  D.  95 j» 

agaui  rcueiied;    but  returning  soon  alter  to  a 


7.  Ann.  Sux.  8.  Fladoard.  lib.  W. 


sense 


128  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

sense  of  his  duty,  he  took  an  opportunity,  when  Otho 
was  hunting,  to  throw  himself  at  his  feet,  and  implored 
forgiveness  in  the  most  humiliating  language.  "  Have 
"  pity,"  said  he,  (after  a  pathetic  pause)  on  your  child, 
*'  who  returns,  like  the  prodigal  son,  to  his  father.  If 
"  you  permit  him  to  live,  Vv'ho  has  so.  often  deserved  to 
*'  die,  he  will  be  faithful  and  obedient  for  the  future,  and 
*'  have  time  to  repent  of  his  folly  and  ingratitude."  The 
emperor,  equally  surprised  and  affected  at  this  moving 
spectacle,  raised  his  son  from  the  ground,  while  the  tears 
trickled  from  his  eyes,  received  him  into  favour,  and 
all  his  followers^. 

This  young  prince  afterwards  died  in  Italy,  whither 
he  had  been  sent  by  his  father,  to  humble  the  ungrateful 
Berengarius,  who  had  broke  his  faith  with  the  emperor, 

^^,^    and  tvrannised  over  his  countrymen.   The  un- 
Jit   D.  959.  ' 

/  *  timely  death  of  Ludolphus,  which  greatly  af- 
fected Otho,  gave  Berengarius  time  to  breathe.  He  was 
soon  absolute  master  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Lombar- 
dy,  but  not  of  Rome,  which  was  then  governed  by  Octa- 
vianus  Sporco,  grandson  of  the  celebrated  Marozia,  con- 
cubine of  Sergius  III.  By  the  great  interest  of  his 
family,  he  had  been  elected  pope  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
when  he  was  not  even  in  orders.  He  took  the  name  of 
John  XII.  out  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  his  uncle, 
John  XI.  and  was  the  first  pope  who  changed  his  name 
on  his  accession  to  the  pontificate'". 

This  John  XII.  was  a  patrician,  or  nobleman  of 
Rome,  and  consequently  united  in  the  papal  chair  the 
privileges  of  both  temporal  and  spiritual  authority,  by  a 
right  whose  legality  could  not  be  disputed.  But  he  was 
young,  sunk  in  debauchery,  and  unable  to  oppose  the 
tyranny  of  Berengarius  and  his  son  Adelbert;  he  therefore 
conjured  Otho  "  by  the  love  of  God,  and  of 
"  the  holy  apostles,  to  come  and  deliver  the 
"  Roman    church   from  the    fangs   of  two    monsters." 

9.  Annal.  Germ,  ex  Meib.  10,  Sigon.  Feg.  Ital.  lib.  vi. 

This 


LET.  XVI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  129 

This  flattering  invitation  was  accompanied  with  an  offer 
of  the  papal  sanction  to  the  imperial  crown,  and  of  the 
kingdom  of  Lombardy,  from  the  Italian  states". 

In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  pope,  or 
rather  with  the  occasion  it  afforded  of  gratifying  his 
own  ambition,  the  emperor  assembled  a 
powerful  army,  and  marched  into  Italy, 
after  having  convoked  a  diet  at  Worms,  where  his  son 
Otho,  by  Adelaida,  was  elected  his  successor;  a  nece  s 
sary  precaution,  in  those  troublesome  times,  for  secu- 
ring the  crown  in  a  family.  Berengarius  fled  before 
him:  he  entered  Pavia  without  opposition,  and  was 
crowned  king  of  Lombardy  at  Milan,  by  the 
archbishop  of  that  city,  in  presence  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy,  who  had  formally  deposed  Berenga- 
rius. Rome  also  opened  its  gates  to  Otho:  and  the  pope 
crowned  him  emperor  of  the  Romans,  dignified  him 
with  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  swore  allegiance  to  him 
on  the  tomb  where  the  body  of  St.  Peter  is  said  to  be 
deposited'^.  The  emperor  at  the  same  time  confirmed  to 
the  apostolic  see  the  donations  made  by  Pepin  and 
Charlemagne,  "  Saving  in  all  things,"  says  he,  "  our 
*'  authority,  and  that  of  our  son  and  descendants'^;" 
expressions  by  which  it  appears  that,  in  this  grant, 
Otho  reserved  to  the  empire  the  supreme  jurisdiction 
over  the  papal  territories. 

The  emperor  next  marched  in  pursuit  of  Berenga- 
rius, whom  he  seized,  and  condemned  to  perpetual  im- 
prisonment. Meanwhile  the  pope,  finding  that  he  had 
given  himself  a  master  in  a  protector,  repented  of  what 
he  had  done;  broke  his  oath  to  the  emperor,  and 
entered  into  a  league  with  Adelbert,  the  son  of  Beren- 
garius, though  formerly  his  most  implacable  enemy. 
Otho  suddenly  returned  to  Rome;  Adelbert  fled;  and 
a  council  deposed  John  XII.   for  his  debaucheries,   as 

11.  Didmar.  lib.  ii.        12.    Fr.    Hen.  Eod.   Synt.  ex  Meib. 
13.  Exemplar.  Diplom.  Othon.  ap.  Karon. 

was 

VOL.    I.  T 


130  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

was  pretended,  but  in  reality  for  revolting  against  the 
emperor,  though  his  licentiousness  was  sufficiently  enor- 
mous to  render  him  unworthy  of  any  civil  or  ecclesias- 
tical dignity.    Leo  VIII.  a  layman,  but  a  man  of  virtue, 

was  elected  his   successor;    and  the  clere-y 

A.   D.  963.  ...  . 

and  citizens  of  Rome  took  anew  the  oath  of 

allegiance  to  Otho,  and  bound  themselves  neither  to 
elect  nor  consecrate  a  pope  without  the  consent  of  the 
emperor''*. 

But  Otho  having  occasion  to  quell  some  distur- 
bances in  Spoleto,  a  faction  reinstated  John  XII.  a  new 

council  deposed  Leo,  and  a  canon  was  enact- 
A.  n»  964.  .  .         . 

ed,   declaring,  ''  that  no  inferior  can  depose 

a  superior'^;"  by  which  Avas  meant  to  be  intimated,  not 

only  that  the  bishops  and  cardinals  had  nc^  power  to 

depose  a  pope,  but  that  the  emperor,  as  a  layman,  owed 

to   the    church  that  very  allegiance  which  he  ex-acted 

from  her. 

Soon  after  this  revolution,  pope  John  was  assassin- 
ated in  the  arms  of  one  of  his  mistresses.  His  party 
however  still  refused  to  acknowledge  Leo,  and  proceed- 
ed to  the  election  of  Benedict  V.  who  was  accordingly 
promoted  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  Informed  of  these 
audacious  and  faithless  proceedings,  Otho  marched 
back  to  Rome,  which  he  reduced,  and  restored  Leo 
VIII.  to  his  dignity.  Benedict  appeared  before  a 
council ;  owned  himself  guilty  of  usurpation ;  stripped 
himself  of  the  pontifical  robes;  implored  compassion, 
and  was  banished  to  Hamburgh.  Leo  VIII.  with  all 
the  clergy  and  Roman  people,  made  at  the  same  time 
a  celebrated  decree,  v/hich  was  long  considered  as  a 
fundamental  law  of  the  empire ;  "  That  Otho,  and  his 
"  successors  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  should  always 
"  have  the  power  of  chusing  a  successor,  of  naming 
"  the  pope,  and  of  giving  investiture  to  bishops'^." 

The  affairs  of  Italy  being  thus  settled,  Otho  return- 
ed to  Germany;  where  he  was  scarce  arrived,  when  the 

14.   1  f5  •.  lib.  vii.     15.   Luitprand.  lib.  vi,    16.  Extract,  in  Gratiana^ 

Italians. 


iL£T,  XVI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  131 

Italians  again  revolted,  and  expelled  John  XIII.  who 
had  been  elected  in  presence  of  the  impe- 
rial  commissioners,  after  the  death  of  Leo 
VIII.  Enraged  at  so  many  instances  of  perfidy,  Otho 
OJice  more  entered  Italy,  and  marched  to  Rome,  which 
he  treated  with  a  severity  somewhat  bordering  on  re- 
venge, but  justly  merited.  He  banished  the  consuls, 
hanged  the  tribunes,  and  caused  the  prefect  of  Rome, 
who  aimed  at  the   character  of  a  second  Brutus,   to  be 

whipt  naked  throuc'h  the  streets  on  an  ass^.  _„^ 

.T,    '  .         ....  I'll-  A.  D.  966. 

1  hese  ancient  dignities  subsisted  only  in  name 

and  the  people  were  destitute  of  every  virtue.  They  had 
repeatedly  broken  their  faith  to  the  prince,  whose  pro- 
tection they  had  craved,  and  to  whom  they  had  sworn 
allegiance;  an  attempt  therefore  to  restore  the  republic, 
which  had  at  one  time  been  considered  as  the  height  of 
patriotism,  was  now  deservedly  punished  as  a  seditious 
revolt.. ..though  a  person  of  no  less  eminence  than  Vol- 
taire seems  to  consider  both  in  the  same  light. 

After  re-establishing  the  pope,  and  regulating  the  po- 
lice of  Rome,  Otho  retired  to  Capua,  where  he  received 

ambassadors    from    Nicephorus,    the    Greek  ^^.^ 

,  ,  1       1  1    11-  A.  D.  G6r. 

emperor,  who  wanted  to  renew  the  old  alliance 

between  the  Eastern  and  Western  empires,  and  also  pro- 
posed a  marriage  between  his  daughter  Theophania  and 
Otho's  son,  lately  associated  with  his  father  in  the 
supreme  power.  In  the  course  of  this  negociation,  how- 
ever, the  Greek  grew  jealous  of  the  German,  and  ordered 
the  nobles  to  be  assassinated  who  came  to  receive  the 
princess.  Incensed  at  so  enormous  a  perfidy, 
Otho  directed  his  generals  to  enter  Calabria, 
where  they  defeated  the  Greek  army,  cut  off  the  noses  of 
their  prisoners,  and  sent  them  in  that  condition  to  Con- 
stantinople'^. 

But  peace  was  soon  after  established  between  the  two 
empires.      Nicephorus  being  put  to  death  by  his  subjects, 

17.  Sigon,  lib.  rVi.        18.  Id-  ibid. 

John 


132  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

John  Zlmisces,  his  successor,  sent  the  princess  Theopha- 
nia  into  Ital^',  where  her  marriage  with  young  Otho  was 
consummated  ^,    and    all    differences    happily- 
accommodated.  The  emperor  returned  to  Ger- 
many covered  with  glory  and  success,  and  lived  to  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  his  victories  two  years  in  his  native  Saxony. 
He  died  in  973,  after  a  reign  of  thirty-six  years;   during 
which,  by  his  generosity  and  courage  he  had  justly  acqui- 
red the  appellation  of  Otho  the  Great,  the  conqueror 
of  Italy,  and  the  restorer  of  the  empire  of  Charlemagne. 
Otho.  II  surnamed  the  Sanguinary,  on  account  of  the 

^^ ,    blood  spilt  under  his  reign,  succeeded  his  father 
A.  D.  974.  -    .  . 

at  the  age  of  eighteen.     His  youth  occasioned 

troubles,  which  his  valour  enabled  him  to  dissipate.  Henry, 
duke  of  Bavaria,  and  several  other  noblemen  rebelled,  but 
were  all  reducced  in  a  short  time.-  Denmark  and  Bohe- 
mia felt  his  power,  and  Rome,  by  new  crimes,  offered  a 
theatre  for  his  justice.  The  consul  Crescentius,  son  of 
the  abandoned  Theodora,  who  had  been  concubine  to  pope 
John  X.  revived  the  project  of  restoring  the  republic,  and 
caused  Benedict  VI.  who  adhered  to  the  emperor,  to  be 
murdered  in  prison.  His  faction  elected  Boniface  VII. 
another  faction  elected  Benedict  VII.  and  a  third  John 
XIV.  who  was  put  to  death  by  Boniface^°, 

These  horrors  succeeded  one  another  so  rapidly  that 
chronologers  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  dates  nor 
historians  accurately  to  settle  the  names  of  the  pontiffs. 
The  pope  of  one  party  was  the  anti-pope  of  another.  But 
Benedict  VII.  and  the  imperial  party  prevailing,  Boniface 
went  in  person  to  Constantinople,  and  implored  the  Greek 
emperors,  Basil  and  Constantine,  to  come  and  restore 
the  throne  of  the  Caesars  in  Italy,  and  deliver  the  Ro- 
mans from  the  German  yoke^'. 

This  circumstance,  my  dear  Philip,  merits  your  at- 
tention. The  popes,  in  order  to  increase  their  power, 
had  formerly  renounced  their  allegiance  to    the  Greeks, 

19.  Annai  de  I' Jimp.  torn.  i.  20.  Sigon.  lib.  vii.  21.  Id.  ibid. 

and 


XET.  XVI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  J33 

and  called  in  the  Franks.  They  afterwards  had  recourse 
to  the  Germans,  who  confirmed  the  privileges  granted 
them  by  the  French;  and  now  they  seemed  ready  to 
receive  their  ancient  masters  or  rather  to  acknowledge 
no  master  at  allj  and  hence  they  have  been  accused 
of  boundless  ambition.  But  in  these  proceedings  I 
can  see  no  foundation  for  such  a  charge.  It  is  natural 
for  men  to  desire  sway;  and,  when  obtained  to  seek  to 
increase  it.  When  the  popes  were  become  temporal 
princes,  they  would  consequently  seek  to  secure  and 
extend  their  dominion.  If  they  had  acted  otherwise, 
they  would  not  have  been  men.  I  am  much  more  offen- 
ded at  that  dominion  of  blind  belief,  which  they  endea- 
voured to  extend  over  the  human  mind.  The  one  was  a 
generous,  the  other  an  ignoble  ambition;  the  first  made 
only  a  few  men  change  their  sovereign,  the  latter  subjected 
millions  to  a  debasing  superstition  and  was  necessarily 
accompanied  with  hypocrisy  and  fraud. 

I  have  already  mentioned,  in  the  history  of  France,  the 
dispute  about  Lorrain,  which  Otho  II.  politically  divided 
with  Lothario's  brother  Charles,  on  condition  that  the 
French  prince  should  do  homage  for  it  after  the  custom 
of  those  times,  with  bended  knee,  and  closed  ^^^ 

AD    981 

hands.  That  war  being  finished,  and  the  af-  *  ' 
fairs  of  Germany  settled,  Otho  marched  into  Italy,  en- 
tered Rome  without  opposition,  and  severely  chastised 
the  rebels  ;  but  attempting  to  wrest  Calabria  from  the 
Greeks,  his  army  was  cut  in  pieces  by  the  Saracens, 
whom  the  Greeks  had  called  to  their  assistance".  He 
died  soon  after  at  Rome,  while  preparing  to  take  revenge 
on  the  enemy. 

Otho  HI.  already  elected  emperor,  succeded  his  father 
at  twelve  years  of  age;   and  his  uncle   and  his  mother 
disputing  the    administration,    Germany   was 
disquieted  by  a  turbulent  regency,  while  Rome 

22.  Leo  Osiiensisj  lib.  ii. 

became 


134  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part.  i. 

became  a  prey  to  new  factions,  and  the  scene  of  new 
crimes.  Crescentius  blew  again  the  trumpet  of  liberty, 
and  persuaded  the  Romans  they  were  still  free,  that  he 
might  have  it  in  his  power  to  enslave  them. 

But  when  the  emperor,  who  proved  a  brave  and  enter- 
prising prince,  came  of  age,  all  things  were  soon  reduced 
,^^,^  into  order.  He  defeated  the  Danes,  who  had 
invaded  the  empire,  and  entered  into  a  friendly 
alliance  with  Eric,  king  of  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Nor- 
way, on  condition  that  German  missionaries  should  be 
allowed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  his  dominions^^;  a  great 
concession  in  those  times,  and  highly  mortifying  to  the 
worshippers  of  Odin. 

The  affairs  of  the  North  being  settled,  Otho  marched 
into  Italy  at  the  intercession  of  John  XV.  who  was  per- 
^^  -  secuted  by  Crescentius.  Alarmed  at  the  name 
of  Otho,  which  had  so  often  proved  fatal  to 
their  confederates,  the  rebels  returned  to  their  duty, 
and  Crescentius  was  pardoned.  But  scarce  had  the 
emperor  left  Rome,  when  that  licentious  spirit  again 
revolted;  expelled  Gregory  V.  the  successor  of  John 
XV.  and  elevated  to  the  papal  chair  a  creature  of  his 
own,   under  the  name  of  John  XVI.     Enraged  at  this 

^^^    fresh  insult,   Otho  returned  with  a  powerful 
A.  D.  998.  . 

army  to  Rome,  which  he  took  by  assault ;  or- 
dered Crescentius  to  be  beheaded,  and  the  anti-pope  to 
be  thrown  from  the  top  of  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  after 
his  eyes  had  been  put  out,  and  his  nose  cut  off'*. 

Having  thus  punished  the  rebels,   restored   Gregory, 
and  received  anew  the  allegiance  of  the  citizens  of  Rome, 

^^  ■     Otho  returned  to  Germany;   whence  he  pro- 
A.  D.  1000.        ,,  Till        i-i-l  J- 

ceeded  to    Poland,   which   he  erected  mto  a 

kingdom  at  the  solicitation  of  the  duke  Boleslaus,  who 

did  him  homage,  and  agreed  to  hold  his  dominions  as  Jt 

fief  of  the  empire'^ 

23.  j^nnnl.  de  I'Emp.  torn.  i. 

24.  Id.  ibid.  Heiss,  Jhst.  t/e  I'Emp.  torn.  i. 

25.  Baron. 

But 


iiT.  KTi.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  135 

But  the  Saracens  about  this  time  making  an  irruption 

into  the    Campania  of  Rome,    the  emperor  was    again 

obliged  to  march  into  Italy.     He  expelled  the  .^^_ 

°  .  .       ,        .  ,  11    ,      1        „  A.D.lOOl. 

ravagers,  and  repaired  'with  a  small  body  oi 

troops  to  Rome,  where  hia  life  was  endangered  by  a 
conspiracy;  and,  while  he  was  assembling  forces  to  pun- 
ish the  rebels,  he  is  said  to  have  been  poisoned  by  a  pair 
of  gloves  sent  him  by  the  widow  of  Crescentius,  whom 
he  had  debauched  under  a  promise  of  marriage-<5. 

The  empire  sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  this 
prince,  who  v/as  equally  brave,  resolute,  and  just;  and 
by  a  glorious  reign  of  eighteen  years,  changed  inno 

the  surname  of  Infant,  which  had  been  given 
him  at  his  accession,    into   that  of  the  Wonder  of  the 
World. 

As  Otho  III.  died  without  children,  a  number  of  com- 
petitors started  up  for  the  empire,  three  of  whom  were 
supposed  alike  qualified  to  wear  the  imperial  crown  ; 
Henry  duke  of  Bavaria,  Herman  duke  of  Suabia,  and 
Ekkard  marquis  of  Saxony.  But  the  duke  of  Bavaria 
being  grandson  to  Otho  II.  by  the  female  line,  was 
elected  in  consequence  of  his  superior  power,  and  con- 
firmed and  consecrated  under  the  name  of  Henry  II. 

The  new  emperor  had  no  sooner  settled  the  affairs  of 
Germany,  and  disconcerted  an  association  formed  againse 
him  by  the  king  of  Poland,  than  he  found  it  necessary  to 
march  into  Italy,  where  Ardouin,  marquis  of  Ivrea,  had 
assumed  the  sovereignty.     Ardouin  retired  at  -in^n 

the  approach  of  Henry,  who  was  crowned  king  "* 
of  Lombardy  at  Pavia,  by  the  archbishop  of  Milan;  but 
the  marquis  having  some  partizans  in  that  city,  they 
Inflamed  the  populace  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  emperor 
was  in  danger  of  being  sacrificed  to  their  fury.  The 
tumult  was  at  last  quelled  by  the  imperial  troops.  Those 
within  the  city  defended  the  palace,  while  detachments 
from  the  camp  scaled  the  walls,  and  committed  terrible 

26.  Hist,  de  VEglise  par  Eene<l. 

slaughter 


136  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

slaughter  in  the  streets,  till  Henry  ordered  thena  to 
desist,  and  retired  to  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter.  Thither 
the  principal  citizens  repaired  in  a  bodyj  implored  the 
emperor's  clemency;  protested  their  loyalty,  and  laid 
the  blame  of  the  sedition  on  the  partizans  of  Ardouin, 
who  had  practised  on  the  ignorance  of  the  vulgar,  iienry 
generously  admitted  their  apology:  "  Mercy,"  said  he, 
"  is  my  favourite  virtue;  and  I  would  much  rather  find 
"  your  obedience  the  result  of  affection  than  the  conse- 
*'  quence  of  fear-7." 

The  troubles  of  Germany  obliged  the  emperor  to 
leave  Italy  without  visiting  Rome.  But  these  being 
quelled,  and  the  king  of  Poland,  who  had  revolted,  re- 
duced to  obedience,  Henry  afterwards  returned  to  Italy, 
with  his  wife  Cunegunda,  and  was  crowned  in  St.  Peter's 
by  Benedict  VIII.  He  at  the  same  time 
'defeated  Ardouin^  who  had  re-assumed  the 
royal  authority  in  his  absence,  and  quieted  the  disorders 
of  Lombardy. 

Cloyed  with  success,  sick  of  human  greatness  or  of  the 
toils  of  empire,  and  charmed  with  the  tranquillity  of  a 
monastic  life,  Henry  had  for  some  time  expressed  a  de- 
sire of  retiring  from  the  world,  and  now  actually  took 
the  religious  habit.  But  the  abbot  of  St.  Vail,  when  he 
received  the  emperor  as  a  brother,  wisely  imposed  the 
following  command  on  him: — "  Monks  owe  obedience 
"  to  their  superior,"  said  he,  "  I  order  you  to  continue 
*'  at  the  helm  of  governments^." 

In  consequence  of  this  injunction,  Hienry  consented 
to  wear  the  crown,  and  increased  in  prosperity  to  the 
hour  of  his  death.  Yet  he  seems  to  have  been 
"  'a  prince  of  a  weak  mind:  for,  besides  his  mo- 
nastic whim,  it  appears  that  he  had  made  a  vow  of  chas- 
tity. And,  when  he  felt  his  end  approaching,  he  sent  for 
the  parents  of  his  wife  Cunegunda,  and  said,  "  You  gave 
"  her  to  me  a  virgin,  and  I  restore  her  a  virgin^?!"  Can 

17.  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  Barre,  torn.  iii.  28.  Annal.  de  I'Emp.  torn,  i, 

29.  Id.  ibid. 

a  restraint 


LET.  xvii.j  MODERN   EUROPE.  isr 

a  restraint  on  the  natural  inclinations  be  a  virtue,  where 
their  indulgence  does  not  interfere  with  the  welfare  of 
society  ?  Do  not  think  so.  Such  a  declaration  from  a 
husband  is  sufficient  to  make  us  credit  the  accusations  of 
adultery  laid  against  Cunegunda,  though  she  is  said  to 
have  proved  her  innocence  by  handling  red-hot  iron. 


LETTER  XVII. 

ENGLAND   FKOM    THE    REIGN     OF    ALFRED    TO     TflE     RF.lGN    OF 
CANUTE    THE    GREAT. 

Ji-NGLAND,  my  dear  Philip,  from  the  reign 
of  Alfred  to  the  Danish  conquest,  affords  few  objects  to 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  scholar,  the  gentleman,  or  the 
politician.  Little  attention  was  paid  to  arts  or  letters; 
which,  with  manners,  suffered  a  decline.  The  consti- 
tution continued  nearly  the  same.  A  concise  account  of 
the  principal  reigns  will  therefore  be  sufficient  for  your 
purpose;  more  especially  as  England,  during  this  period, 
had  no  connection  with  the  affairs  of  the  continent. 

Alfred  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Edward  the  elder, 
being  the  first  of  that  name  who  sat  on  the  English  throne. 
Though  inferior  to  his  father  in  genius  and  erudition,  he 
equalled  him  in  military  talents:  and  he  had  occasion  for 
them.  Ethelwald,  his  cousin-german,  son  to  king  Ethel- 
bert,  Alfred's  brother,  disputed  the  crown,  and  called  in 
the  Danes  to  support  his  claim.  The  death  of  Ethehvald, 
who  fell  in  a  battle  with  the  Kentish  men',  de-  ^^^ 

AD     QIO 

cided  the  quarrel;  but  Edward's  wars  with  the 
Danes   continued  during  the  greater  part   of  hir,  reign, 
though  he  was  successful  in  almost  every  engagement. 
He  died  in  925. 


1.  Chron.  Sax.  H.  Hunting. 
VOL.  I,  z  Athelstan, 


138  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Athelstan,  Edward's  natural  son,  obtained  the  king- 
dom, in  preference  to  his  legitimate  children. 
As  he  vv'as  arrived  at  an  age  more  suited  to 
the   cares  of  government,    and  the   nation,    exposed  to 
foreign  and  domestic  wars,  required  a  prince  of  vigour 
and  abilities,  the  stain  in  his  birth  was  overlooked. 

No  sooner  was  Athelstan  securely  seated  on  the 
throne,  than  he  endeavoured  to  give  it  stability  by  pro- 
viding against  the  insurrection  of  the  domestic  Danes. 
With  this  view  he  marched  into  Northumberland,  their 
most  considerable  settlement;  and  finding  that  they  bore 
with  impatience  the  English  joke,  he  judged  it  prudent 
to  confer  on  Sitheric,  a  Danish  nobleman,  the  title  of 
king,  and  to  give  him  his  sister  Editha  in  marriage,  as  a 
farther  motive  of  attachment.  But  this  policy,  though 
apparently  wise,  proved  the  source  of  many  troubles. 

Sitheric  died  within  a  twelvemonth  after  his  eleva- 
tion; and  his  two  sons,  by  a  former  marriage,  Anlaf  and 
Godfrid,  founding  pretensions  on  their  father's  rank, 
assumed  the  sovereignty,  without  waiting  for  the  appro- 
bation of  Athelstan.  But  they  were  soon  expelled  by 
that  pov/erful  monarch,  who  Was  no  less  brave  than  poli- 
tic. The  former  took  shelter  in  Ireland,  the  latter  in 
Scotland;  where  he  was  protected  for  some  time,  by  the 
clemency  of  Constantinc,  who  then  swayed  the  Scottish 
sceptre.  Continually  solicited,  however,  and  even  men- 
aced  by  the  English  monarch,  Constantine  at  last  pro- 
mised to  deliver  up  his  guest;  but  secretly  detesting 
such  treachery,  he  ga^'^e  Godfrid  a  hint  to  make  his  escape. 
Incensed  at  Constantine's  behaviour,  though  the  death  of 
the  fugitive  had  freed  him  from  all  apprehensions,  Athel- 
^,,  .  Stan  entered  Scotland  with  a  numerous  armv, 
and  reduced  the  Scots  to  such  distress,  that 
their  king  was  happy  to  preserve  his  crown  by  the  most 
humble  submission\ 

2.  Ilovedon 

Athelstan 


lET.  XVII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  139 

Athelstaii  afterwards  defeated  the  Scots,  Welsh,  and 
Danes,  m  a  general  engagement  at    Biuns-  ^^^^ 

bury,  in  Northumberland.  In  consequence 
of  this  victory  he  enjoyed  tranquillity  during  the  rest  of 
his  reign.  He  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  able 
and  active  of  our  ancient  princes:  and  his  memo- 
rable law  for  the  encouragement  of  commerce,  discovers 
a  liberality  of  mind  worthy  of  the  most  enlightened  ages ; 
That  a  merchant,  who  had  made  two  voyages,  on  his 
own  account,  to  distant  lands,  should  be  admitted  to  the 
rank  of  a  lesser  thane  or  gentleman^. 

Athelstan  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Edmund ;  who, 
on  his  accession,  met  with  some  disturbance 
from  the   Northumbrian   Danes,    whom  he 
reduced  to  obedience.     He  also  conquered  Cumberland 
from  the  Britons,  and  conferred  that  princi-  „,„ 

.     A.  D.   9-*5. 

pality  on  Malcolm,  king  of  Scotland,  on  condi- 
tion that  he  should  do  homage  to  England  for  it,  and 
protect  the  Northern  counties  from  all  future  incursion* 
of  the  foreign  Danes^ 

Edmund's  reign  was  short,  and  his  death  violent. 
As  he  was  solemnizing  a  feast  in  Gloucester-  ^ 

shire,  a  notorious  robber  named  Leolf,  whom 
he  had  sentenced  to  banishment,  audaciously  entered  the 
hall  where  his  sovereign  dined,  and  seated  himself  at  one 
of  the  tables.  Enraged  at  such  insolence,  Edmund  ordered 
him  to  be  seized;  but  observing  that  the  rufaan  was  pre- 
paring to  resist,  the  indignant  monarch  sprung  up,  and 
catching  him  by  the  hair,  dragged  him  out  of  the  hail. 
JMeanwhile  Leolf  having  drawn  his  dagger,  lifted  his  arm 
with  a  furious  blow,  and  stabbed  the  king  to  the  heart, 
who  immediately  expired  on  the  bosom  of  his  murderer. 

Edmund  left  male  issue;  but  as  his  eldest  son  was  too 
young  to  govern  the  kingdom,  his  brother  Edred  was 
raised  to  the  throne.  The  beginning  of  Edrcd's  reign, 
like  those  of  his  predecessors,  v/as  disturbed  by  the  rtbel- 

3.  BromptoTi.        4.  Cu'.  Mal.nes.  I'.b.  li.      j.  IJ.   ibiJ.  H.  Huuung. 

lioa 


140  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

lion  of  the  Northumbrian  Danes.  Though  frequently 
humbled,  they  were  never  entirely  subdued,  nor  had 
they  ever  paid  a  sincere  allegiance  to  the  English  ciown. 
Their  obedience  lasted  no  longer  than  the  present  terror. 
Edr£d,  instructed  by  experience,  took  every  precaution 
to  prevent  their  future  insurrections.  He  settled  English 
garrisons  in  their  most  considerable  towns,  and  placed 
over  them  an  English  governor,  to  watch 
their  motions,  and  check  the  first  appearance 
of  revolt.  He  also  obliged  Malcolm,  king  of  Scotland,  to 
renew  his  homage  for  Cumberland''. 

But  Edred,  though  a  brave  and  active  prince,  lay 
under  the  influence  of  the  lowest  superstition,  and  had 
blindly  delivered  over  his  conscience  to  the  guidance  of 
Dunstan,  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  commonly  called  St. 
Dunstan,  whom  he  advanced  to  the  highest  offices  of 
state,  and  who  concealed  beneath  an  appearance  of  sancti- 
ty the  most  insatiable  and  insolent  ambition.  In  order 
to  impose  on  the  credulity  of  mankind,  this  designing 
monk  had  long  secluded  himself  from  the  world  in  a  mi- 
serable cell,  where  he  is  said  to  have  had  frequent  con- 
flicts with  the  Devil;  until  one  day,  when  the  infernal 
spirit  attempting  to  seduce  him  in  the  shape  of  a  woman, 
Dunstan  seized  him  by  the  nose  with  a  pair  of  red-hot 
pincers,  and  held  him  till  the  whole  neighbourhood  re- 
sounded with  his  bellowings^.  Satan,  thus  vanquished, 
ilurst  nevermore  shew  his  face.  This  story,  and  others 
of  the  like  nature,  then  seriously  believed,  obtained  the 
abbot  a  reputation,  both  with  prince  and  people,  which  no 
real  piety  or  virtue  could  possibly  have  procured  him. 
Soon  after  his  return  from  solitude,  he  was  placed  by 
Edred  at  the  head  of  the  treasury;  and,  sensible  that  he 
owed  his  advancement  solely  to  the  opinion  of  his  aus- 
terity, he  professed  himself  a  friend  to  the  rigid  monas- 
tic rules,  which  about  this  time  began  to  prevail,  and  by 
which  monks  were  excluded  from  all  commerce  with  the 

6.  Hoveden.     7.  O.-^berne,  in  Aiif^Iia  Sacra,  vol.  ii. 

world 


LET.  XVII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  141 

world  and  with  women.  He  introduced  them  into  the 
convents  of  Glastonbury  and  Abingdon,  and  endeavoured 
to  render  them  universal  in  the  kingdom*^, 

A  word  here  of  the  monastic  life. 

There  had  been  monasteries  in  England  from  the  first 
introduction  of  Christianity  among  the  Saxons,  and  these 
establishments  had  been  greatly  multiplied  by  the  mis- 
taken piety  of  the  English  princes  and  nobles,  who  sought 
to  bribe  Heaven  by  donations  to  the  church.  But  the 
monks  had  hitherto  been  a  species  of  secular  priests,  who 
were  at  liberty  either  to  marry  or  continue  single,  and 
who  lived  after  the  manner  of  our  present  canons  or  pre-, 
bendaries.  They  both  intermingled  with  the  world,  in 
some  degree,  and  endeavoured  to  render  themselves 
useful  to  it.  A  superstitious  devotion,  hoAvever,  had 
produced  in  Italy  a  new  species  of  monks,  who  secluded 
themselves  entirely  from  the  world,  renounced  all  claim  to 
liberty,  and  made  a  merit  of  the  most  inviolable  chastity. 
Dunstan  laid  hold  of  this  circumstance  to  commence  re- 
former. The  popes  had  favoured  the  doctrine  from 
motives  of  general  policy,  as  detaching  the  ecclesiastical 
from  the  civil  power:  the  abbot  embraced  it  for  his  own 
aggrandizement.  Celibacy  was  therefore  extolled  as  the 
universal  duty  of  priests;  and,  in  England,  the  minds  of 
men  were  already  prepared  for  such  an  innovation,  thojugh 
it  militates  against  the  strongest  propensities  in  human 
nature. 

The  first  preachers  of  Christianity  among  the  Saxons 
had  carried  to  the  most  extravagant  height  the  praises 
of  inviolable  chastity;  the  pleasures  of  love  had  been 
represented  as  incompatible  with  Christian  perfection; 
and  an  abstinence  from  all  commerce  with  the  softer  sex, 
certainly  the  highest  act  of  self-denial,  Avas  deemed  a, 
sufficient  atonement  for  the  greatest  enormities.  It  there- 
fore naturally  followed,  as  a  consequence  of  this  doctrine, 
that  those  who    officiated  at  the  altar  should  at  least   be 

S.  Id.  Void. 

free 


142  THE  HISTORY  01'  [part  i. 

free  from  such  pollution.  Dunstan  and  his  reformed 
monks  knew  well  how  to  avail  themselves  of  these  popular 
topics,  and  set  off  their  own  character  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. On  the  otJier  hand,  their  rivals  the  secular  clergy, 
who  were  numerous  and  rich,  and  possessed  of  the  eccle- 
siastical dignities,  defended  themselves  with  vigour, 
und  boldly  maintained  the  sanctity  of  the  institution  of 
marriage".  The  whole  nation  was  thrown  into  a  ferment. 
In  the  meantime,  the  power  of  the  monks  received  a 

^^^    check  by  the    death  of  Edred,  the  dupe  of 
A.  D     ySSt         .  . 

their  ambition.       He  left  children,   but  in  an 

infant  state;  the  crown  was  therefore  conferred  on  Edwy, 
his  nephew,  son  to  Edmund  his  brother  and  predecessor  ". 
This  prince,  who  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age  at 
his  accession,  possessed  an  elegant  person,  and  the  most 
amiable  and  promising  virtues.  But  neither  the  graces 
of  his  figure,  nor  the  accomplishments  of  his  mind,  could 
screen  him  from  the  fury  of  the  monks,  whom  he  unhap- 
pily offended  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign.  The  beau- 
tiful Elgiva,  his  second  or  third  cousin,  had  made  an 
impression  on  the  susceptible  heart  of  Edwy;  and,  as  he 
was  at  an  age  when  the  tender  passions  arc  most  keenly 
felt,  he  ventured  to  marry  her,  though  within  the  degrees 
of  afiinity  prohibited  by  the  church.  The  austerity  of 
the  monks  made  them  particularly  violent  on  this  occa- 
sion; the  king  therefore  entertained  a  strong  aversion 
against  them,  and  determined  to  oppose  their  project  of 
expelling  the  seculars  from  the  convents.  But  he  had 
soon  reason  to  repent  his  rashness,  in  provoking  such 
dangerous  enem.ies.  On  the  day  of  his  coronation,  while 
the  nobility,  assembled  in  the  great  hall,  were  indulging 
themselves  in  riot  and  disorder,  after  the  example  of 
their  German  ancestors,  Edwy,  attracted  by  the  gentler 
pleasures  of  love,  retired  to  the  queen's  apartment,  and 
gave  loose  to  his  fondness,  which  was  but  feebly  checked 
by  the  presence  of  her  mother.  Dunstan  conjectured  the 
reason  of  the  king's  absence;  and  carrying  along  with  him 

1.  S;ielm.     (.Ml       lol.  i.      10.  Cbron.  Sex. 

Odo, 


LET.  XVII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  US 

Odo,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  over  whom  he  had  gained 
an  absolute  ascendant,  he  burst  into  the  royal  privacy, 
upraided  Edvvy  of  lasciviousness,  tore  him  from  the  arms 
of  his  consort,  and  pushed  him  back  ignominiously  into 
the  company  of  the  nobles,  loading  the  queen  with  the 
most  opprobrious  epithets". 

Though  Edwy  was  young,  and  had  the  prejudices  of 
the  age  to  encounter,  he  found  means  to  revenge  this 
public  insult.  He  accused  Dunstan  of  malversation  in 
office,  while  at  the  head  of  the  treasury  ;  and  as  that 
minister  did  not  clear  himself  of  the  charge,  the  king 
banished  him  the  realm.  But  Dtmstan's  party  were  not 
idle  during  his  absence.  They  poisoned  the  minds  of 
the  people  to  such  a  degree  by  declamations  against  the 
king,  and  panegyrics  on  the  abbot's  sanctity,  that  the  royal 
authority  was  despised,  and  still  more  outrageously  in- 
sulted. Archbishop  Odo  ordered  the  queen  to  be  sei- 
zed :  and  after  her  face  had  been  seared  with  a  red-hot 
iron,  in  order  to  destroy  that  fatal  beauty  which  had 
ensnared  the  king,  she  was  carried  into  Ireland,  there 
to  remain  in  perpetual  exile'-. 

Edvvy  finding  resistance  ineffectual,  was  obliged  to 
consent  to  a  divorce,  which  was  pronounced  by  the  im- 
perious Odo.  But  these  were  not  the  only  evils  which 
attended  this  unfortunate  prince  and  his  consort.  The 
amiable  Elgiva  was  made  prisoner  by  her  persecutors, 
and  cruelly  murdered  in  returning  to  the  embraces  of 
the  king,  whom  she  still  considered  as  her  husband. 
Nothing  less  than  her  death  could  satisfy  the  archbishop 
and  the  monks.  Edwy  was  dethroned  by  the  same  in- 
fluence, in  order  to  make  room  for  his  brother  Edgar, 
a  boy  of  thirteen  years  of  age.  Dunjtan  returned  to 
England,  and  took  upon  him  the  government  of  the 
young  king  and  his  party.  He  was  first  installc  d  in  the 
see  of  Worcester,  next  in  that  of  London,  and  after- 
wards in  that  of  Canterbury  :   of  all  which  he  long  kept 

11    Gul   Malmfs.  lib.  ii.      12.  Osberne,  ubi  sup 

possession 


144  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

possession.      In  the  mean  time  the  unhappy  Edwy  was 

^^^    excommunicated,  and  pursued  bv  his  enemies 
A     13    959.  ,  '' 

with  unrelenting  vengeance '^.     But  his  death 

soon  freed  them  iVom  all  inquietude,  and  left  Edgar  in 
peaceable  possession  of  the  throne. 

The  reign  of  Edgar  is  one  of  the  most  fortunate  in 
the  English  annals.  Though  he  ascended  the  throne  in 
early  youth,  he  soon  discovered  an  excellent  capacity 
for  governmeut.  He  shewed  no  aversion  against  war  ; 
he  took  the  wisest  precautions  for  public  safety  ;  and,  by 
his  vigilance  and  foresight,  he  was  enabled  to  indulge 
his  natural  inclination  for  peace.  He  maintained  a  body 
of  troops  in  the  North,  to  keep  the  mutinous  Northum- 
brians in  awe,  and  to  repel  the  inroads  of  the  Scots. 
He  also  built  and  supported  a  powerful  navy  :  and,  in 
order  to  habituate  the  seamen  to  the  practice  of  their 
profession,  as  well  as  to  intimidate  his  enemies,  he  sta- 
tioned three  squadrons  off  the  coasts  of  his  kingdom,  and 
commanded  them  to  make  by  turns  the  circuit  of  his 
dominions.  The  foreign  Danes  durst  not  approach  a 
country  which  was  so  strongly  defended  ;  the  domestic 
Danes  saw  destruction  to  be  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  insurrection  ;  and  the  princes  of  Wales,  of  Scotland, 
and  even  of  Ireland,  were  happy  to  appease  so  potent  a 
monarch  by  submission'*. 

But  the  means  by  which  Edgar  more  especially 
maintained  his  authority  at  home^  and  preserved  pub- 
lic tranquillity,  was  paying  court  to  Dunstan  and  the 
monks,  who  had  violently  placed  him  on  the  throne,  and 
whose  claim  to  superior  sanctity  gave  them  an  ascen- 
dant over  the  people.  He  favoured  their  scheme  of 
reformation,  as  it  was  called,  but  in  reality  of  dispossess- 
ing the  secular  canons  of  the  monasteries  ;  he  consulted 
them  in  the  administration  of  all  ecclesiastical,  and  even 
of  many  civil  affairs  ;  and  although  the  vigour  of  his 
genius   prevented  him  from   being  entirely   guided   by 

13.  Rrompton.        14.  Spclm.    Cone.  vol.  i. 

them 


LET.  XVII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  145 

them,  he  took  care  never  to  disoblige  them.  Hence  he 
is  represented  by  the  monkish  writers  not  only  as  a 
warrior  and  a  politician,  a  character  which  he  seems  to 
have  merited,  but  also  as  a  saint  and  a  man  of  virtue, 
though  he  was  licentious  in  the  highest  degree,  and  vio- 
lated every  law  human  and  divine.  Kis  very  amours 
are  a  compound  of  barbarity  and  brutality.  He  broke 
into  a  convent,  carried  off  a  nun  by  force,  and  even 
committed  violence  on  her  person'^.  Struck  also  with 
the  charms  of  a  nobleman's  daughter,  in  whose  house  he 
was  entertained,  he  demanded  that  she  should  pass  that 
very  night  with  him,  without  once  consulting  the  young 
lady's  inclinations'^'.  But  his  most  remarkable  amour 
was  with  the  beautiful  Elfrida  ;  and,  as  it  is  connected 
with  the  history  of  the  following  reign,  I  shall  relate  it 
circumstantially.  It  will  give  you  at  once  an  idea  of  the 
manners  of  the   age,  and  of  the  character  of  Edgar. 

Elfrida  the  only  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  Olgar, 
earl  of  Devonshire,  though  educated  in  the  country,  and 
a  stranger  at  court,  had  filled  all  England  with  the  repu- 
tation of  her  beauty.  Edgar,  v/ho  Vv'as  never  indifFerent 
to  any  report  of  this  kind,  sent  Athelwold  his  favourite  to 
see  if  the  young  lady  was  indeed  as  fair  as  fume  had  re- 
presented her.  Athelwold  no  sooner  saw  Elfrida  than  he 
was  inflamed  with  love,  and  determined  to  sacrifice  to  it 
his  fidelity  to  his  master:  he  therefore  told  Edgar,  on  his 
return,  that  the  fortune  and  quality  of  Elfrida  alone  had 
been  the  cause  of  the  adulation  paid,  and  that  her  charms, 
so  far  from  being  extraordinary,  would  have  been  entirely 
over-looked  in  a  woman  of  inferior  condition.  "  But," 
addedhewhenhefoundhehadblunted  the  edgeof  the  kind's 

15.  Gul.  Malrnes.  lib.  ii. 

16.  This  demand  was  made  to  the  mother,  who  being  a  woman 
of  virtue,  sent  secretly  to  the  king's  bed,  instead  of  her  daughter,  her 
maid  Elfleda;  with  whom  Edgar  passed  the  night  so  much  to  his  satis- 
faction, that  he  not  only  forgave  the  old  lady  for  her  pious  deceit,  but 
transferred  his  love  to  Elfleda,  who  became  hi*  favourite  mistress.  Gv.l- 
Malmes.  ubi  sup. 

curiosity 
VOL,   I.  A  a 


146  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

curiosity,  *'  though  she  has  nothing  to  claim  the  attention 
**  of  a  sovereign,  her  immense  wealth  would,  to  a  subject, 
"  be  a  sufficient  compensation,  for  the  homeliness  of  her 
"  person;  and,  although  it  could  never  produce  on  mc 
"  the  illusion  of  beauty,  it  might  make  her  a  convenient 
*'  wifel" 

Edgai-,  glad  of  an  opportunity  of  establishing  his  favour- 
ite's fortune,  not  only  gave  his  approbation  to  the  pro- 
jected match,  but  forwarded  its  success  by  recommending 
him  in  the  warmest  manner  to  the  earl  of  Devonshire;  so 
that  Athelwold  w^as  soon  made  happy  in  the  possession  of 
his  beloved  Elfrida.  Dreading,  however,  the  eyes  of 
the  king,  he  still  found  some  pretence  for  detaining  his 
wife  in  the  country.  But  all  his  precautions  were  insuf- 
ficient to  conceal  his  amorous  treachery.  Royal  favour- 
ites are  never  without  enemies;  Edgar  was  soon  informed 
of  the  truth;  but  before  he  would  execute  vengeance  on 
Athelwold's  perfidy,  he  resolved  to  satisfy  himself  fully 
in  regard  to  Elfrida's  beauty.  He  therefore  told  his 
deceiver,  That  he  intended  to  pay  him  a  visit  at  his  castle, 
and  be  introduced  to  his  wife,whosebeautyhehadformer- 
ly  heard  so  much  praised.  Athehvold  was  thunderstruck 
at  the  proposal;  but,  as  he  could  not  refuse  such  an  hon- 
our, he  only  begged  leave  to  go  a  few  hours  before  his 
royal  guest,  that  he  might  make  proper  preparations  for 
his  reception.  On  his  arrival,  he  fell  at  his  wife's  feet; 
discovered  the  whole  secret,  and  conjured  her,  if  she  valu- 
ed either  her  own  honour  or  his  life,  to  disguise  as  much 
as  possible  that  fatal  oeauty  which  had  tempted  him  to 
deceive  his  prince  and  friend.  Elfrida  promised  compli- 
ance, though  nothing  appears  to  have  been  farther  from 
her  thoughts.  She  adorned  her  person  with  the  most 
exquisite  art,  and  called  forth  all  her  charms ;  not  des- 
pairing, it  should  seem,  yet  to  reach  that  exalted  station 
of  v.?hich  Athelwold's  fondness  had  deprived  her.  The 
event  was  answerable  to  her  wishes;  she  excited  at  once  in 
Edgar's  bosom  the  warmest  love,  and  the  keenest  desire 
of  revenge.  The  king,  however,  who  could  dissemble 
those  passions,  as  well  as  feel  them,  beheld  her  with  seem- 
ing: 


LET.  XVII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  147 

ing  indifference,  and  having  seduced  Athelwold  into  a 
wood,  under  pretence  of  hunting,  he  stabbed  him  with  his 
own  hand,  took  Elfrida  to  court,  and  soon  after  puWlicly 
married  her'^ 

This  reign  is  remarkable  for  the  extirpation  of  wolves 
from  England.  Edgar  took  great  pleasure  in  pursuing 
those  ravenous  animals:  and  when  he  found  they  had  all 
taken  shelter  in  the  mountains  and  forests  of  Wales,  he 
changed  the  tribute  of  money  imposed  on  the  Welsh 
princes  by  Athelstan,  into  an  annual  tribute  of  three  hun- 
dred head  of  wolves'^,  a  policy  which  occasioned  so  much 
diligence  in  hunting  them,  that  the  breed  soon  became 
extinct  in  the  island. 

Edgar  Avas  succeeded  by  jhis  son  Edward,  commonly 
called  the  martyr,  whom  he  had  by  his  first 
wife,  the  daughter  of  earl  Ordmer. 

The  succession  of  Edward  did  not  take  place  without 
much  opposition.  Elfrida,  his  step-mother,  had  a  son 
named  Ethelred,  only  seven  years  old,  whom  she  at- 
tempted to  raise  to  the  throne.  But  the  principal  nobi- 
lity, dreading  her  imperious  temper,  opposed  a  measure 
which  must  increase  her  authority,  if  not  put  her  in  pos- 
session of  the  regency;  and  Dunstan,  to  whom  it  was  of 
great  importance  to  have  a  king  favourable  to  his  cause, 
resolutely  crowned  and  anointed  Edward,  over  whom  he 
had  already  gained  an  absolute  ascendant.      His  short 

reiffci  was  remarkable  for  nothing:  but  a  conti- 

A.  D.  978 
nual  struggle  between  the  monks  and  the  secu- 
lar clergy.    He  was  treacherously  murdered  at  the  instiga- 
tion  of   Elfrida,    in   order  to   make    roonj  for  her  son 
Ethelred. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Ethelred,  a  prince  with- 
out courage  or  capacity,  England  was  visited  anev^r  by 
the  Danes.  The  wise  regulations  of  Alfred,  and  the 
valour  of  his  immediate  successors  had  long  deterred 
those  ravagers  from  approaching  the  British  shores;  and 

17.  Gul.  Malmes.  Hoyeden.  Bronjpton,  ubi  sup. 
IS.  Gal.  Majmes.  liW.  ii. 

their 


14,8  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

their  settlement  In  France  had  required,  for  a  time,  most 
of  their  superfluous  hands.  But  a  new  race  of  men  having 
now  sprung  up  in  the  northern  regions,  who  could  no 
longer  disburden  themselves  on  Normany,  and  England 
being  no  longer  governed  by  an  Alfred  or  an  Edgar,  they 
ventured  to  renew  their  depredations.  Ethelred,  instead 
of  rousing  his  people  to  defend  with  courage 
their  prince  and  their  property,  meanly  com- 
pounded Avith  the  enemy  for  his  safety,  by  bribing  them 
to  depart  the  kingdom'^. 

That  shameful  expedient,  which  invited  assailants 
instead  of  repelling  them,  was  attended  with  the  success 
that  might  have  been  expected;  the  Danes  again  returned, 
and  were  again  bribed  to  depart.  In  the  meantime 
Ethelred,  from  a  policy  incident  to  weak  princes,  em- 
braced the  cruel  resolution  of  massacring  the  Danes 
throughout  all  his  dominions.  Secret  orders  were  accor- 
dingly given  to  commence  the  execution  on  the  same  day, 

^^^^   arid-  ^11  the    Danes  Avere  destroyed  without 

A.  D.  1002.  ^  r>       M  1         •  1-     1  •  r 

mercy.      £.ven  Gunilda,  sister  to  the  king  oi 

Denmark,  who  had  married  earl  Paling,  and  embraced 

Christianity,  was  seized  and  put  to  death  by  Ethelred,  after 

having  seen  her  husband  and  children  butchered  before 

her  face-". 

This  unhappy  princess  foretold,    in  the  agonies  of 

despair,  that  her  murder  would  soon  be  revenged  by  the 

19.  Id.  ibid. 

20.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  Hen.  Hunt.  lib.  vi.  Contrary  to  the  testi- 
mony of  most  of  our  old  English  historians,  who  represent  the  massacre 
of  the  Danes  as  universal,  Wallingford,  (p.  545.)  says  that  it  afTecled 
only  a  military  body  in  the  pay  of  the  king,  dispersed  over  the  country; 
become  insolent  in  an  ttncommon  drgree,  and  in  some  measure  masters 
of  the  kingdom  ;  which,  instead  of  protecting,  they  often  ravaged,  in 
conjunction  with  the  foreign  Danes.  After  so  great  an  elapse  of  tiin^ 
it  is  impossible  to  decide  upon  the  matter  with  certainty ;  but  as  the  king- 
donis  of  Korthumberland  and  East-Anglia  were  cliiefly  peopled  wifj^ 
Danes,  Wullingford's  account  seems  most  probable. 

total 


LET.  XVII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  149 

total  ruin  of  the  English  nation.      Ne\'er  was  prophecy 
w^^^    better  fulfilled,  nor  ever  did  barbarous  policy 

A    D.  1003 

prove  more  fatal  to  its  projectors.  Sweyn, 
king  of  Denmark,  breathing  vengeance  for  the  slaughter 
of  his  countrymen,  landed  speedily  in  the  west  of  England, 
and  desolated  the  whole  kingdoni  with  fire  and  sword. 
The  English,  sensible  what  they  had  to  expect  from  a 
barbarous  and  enraged  enemy,  attempted  several  times 
to  make  a  stand  ;  but  they  were  successively  betrayed 
by  Alferic  and  Edric,  governors  of  Mercia.  The  base 
and  imprudent  expedient  of  money  was  again  tried,  till 
the  nation  was  entirely  drained  of  its  treasure,  but  with- 
out effect.  The  Danes  continued  their  ravages  ;  and 
Ethelred,  equally  afraid  of  the  violence  of  the  ^  ^, 

A.  D.   1013. 

enemy  and  the  treachery  of  his  own  subjects, 
fled  over  to  his  brother-in-law,   Richard  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy,  who  received  him  with  a  generosity  that  does 
honour  to  his  memory^'. 

Sweyn  died  soon  after  Ethelred  left  England,  and  be- 
fore he  had  time  to  establish  himself  in  his  ^^.  . 

,  .....  -n  1    1      1  A*  D.  1014. 

newly  acquired  domniions.  Jithelrecl  v/as  re- 
called; but  his  misconduct  was  incurable.  On  resuming 
the  government,  he  discovered  the  same  incapacity,  indo- 
lence, cowardice,  and  credulity,  which  had  so  often 
exposed  him  to  the  insults  of  his  enemies:  and  the 
English  found  in  Canute,  the  son  and  successor  of  Sweyn, 
an  enemy  no  less  terrible  than  his  father.  An  army  was 
assembled  against  him  under  the  command  of  Edric  and 
prince  Edmond.  Edric,  v/hom  the  infatuated  king  still 
trusted,  continued  his  perfidious  machinations.  After 
endeavouring  in  vain  to  get  the  prince  into  his  ioi  t 

power,  he  found  means  to  dissipate  the  army, 
and  then  openly  revolted  to  Canute  with  forty  vessels". 

Notwithstanding   thfs  misfortune,    Edmond,  whose 
intrepidity  never  failed  him,  collected  the  remaining  force 

21..  Men.  Hunting,  lib.  vi.  22.  GuL  Malnici.  lib.  ii. 

of 


150  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  the  kingdom,  and  was  soon  in  a  condition  to  give  the 
enemy  battle.  But  the  king  had  so  often  experienced 
the  perfidy  of  his  subjects,  that  he  had  lost  all  confidence 
in  them;  he  therefore  refused  to  take  the  field;  so  that 
the  prince's  vigorous  measures  were  rendered  altogether 
ineffectual,  the  army  being  discouraged  by  the  timidity 
of  their  sovereign.  As  the  north  had  already  submitted 
to  Canute's  power,  Edmond  retired  to  London,  deter- 
mined  there  to  maintain  the  small  remains  of 
English  liberty.  In  the  meantime  his  father 
died,  after  an  inglorious  reign  of  thirty-five  years. 

Ethelred  left  two  sons  by  his  first  marriage :  Edmond, 
who  succeeded  him,  and  Edwy,  whom  Canute  afterwards 
murdered.  His  tv/o  sons  by  the  second  marriage,  Al- 
fred and  Edward,  were  conveyed  into  Normandy  by 
queen  Emma,  immediately  after  the  death  of  their 
father. 

Edmond,  who  received  the  name  of  Ironside  from 
his  hardy  valour,  possessed  courage  and  abilities  sufHcient 
to  have  saved  his  country  ;  not  only  from  sinking  under 
its  present  calamities,  but  even  to  have  raised  it  from 
that  abyss  of  misery  into  which  it  was  already  fallen,  had 
the  English,  among  their  other  misfortunes,  not  been 
infected  with  treachery  and  disloyalty.  But  these  ren- 
dered his  best  concerted  schemes,  and  his  noblest  efforts 
fruitless.  The  traitor  Edric  pretended  to  return  to  his 
dut}';  and,  as  Edmond  had  no  general  in  whom  he  could 
fepose  more  confidence,  he  gave  him  a  considerable  com- 
mand in  the  army.  A  battle  was  soon  after  fought  at 
Assington  in  Essex.  Edric  deserted  to  the  enemy,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  day,  and  occasioned  the  total  defeat  of 
the  English  army,  with  a  great  slaughter  of  the  nobility. 

The  indefatigable  Edmond,  however,  had  still  re- 
source5v.  He  assembled  a  nev/  army  at  Gloucester,  and  was 
again  in  a  condition  to  dispute  the  field;  when  the  Danish 
and  English  nobility,  equally  tired  of  the  struggle,  obli- 
ged their  kings  to  come  to  terms.  The  kingdom  was 
divided  between  tii;;m  bj'   treaty.      Canute  reserved  to 

himself 


iET.  XVIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  151 

himself  the  northern  divison  ;  Mcrcia,  East-Anglla,  and 
Northumberland,  which  he  had  entirely- 
subdued  :  the  southern  parts  were  left  to 
Edmond,  who  survived  the  treaty  only  a  month.  He 
was  murdered  at  Oxford  by  two  of  his  chamberlains, 
accomplices  of  Edric,  whose  treachery  made  way  for  the 
accession  of  Canute  the  Dane  to  the  throne  of  England*''; 
Edwin  and  Edward,  the  son  of  Edmond,  being  yet  in 
their  infancy* 


LETTER  XVni. 


■f  RAKCE,  FROM  THE  ACCESSION   OF   HUGH  CAPET,  TO  THE   INVA- 
SION OF   JSNGLAND   BY  WILLIAM   DUKE   OF  NORMANDV. 


While  England  changed  it»Kne  of  sovereigns, 
and  Germany  its  form  of  government,  France  also  had 
changed  its  reigning  family,  and  was  become, 
like  Germany,  a  government  entirely  feudal. 
Each  province  had  its  hereditary  counts  or  dukes.  He 
who  could  only  seize  upon  two  or  three  small  villages, 
paid  homage  to  the  usurper  of  a  province;  and  he  v/ho 
had  only  a  castle,  held  it  of  the  possessor  of  a  town.  The 
kingdom  was  a  monstrous  assemblage  of  members,  with- 
out any  compact  body. 

Of  the  princes,  or  nobles,  who  held  immediately  of 
the  crown,  Hugh  Capet  was  not  the  least  powerful.  He 
possessed  the  dukedom  of  France;  which  extended  as  far 
as  Touraine:  he  was  also  count  of  Paris;  and  the  vast 
domains  which  he  held  in  Picardy  and  Champagne,  gave 
him  great  authority  in  those  provinces.     He  therefore 

23.  Gul.  JlsJmei.  Hen,  Hunting,  ubi  sa^,- 

seized 


152  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

seized  the  crown  on  the  death  of  Lewis  V.  and  brought 
more  strength  to  it  than  he. derived  from  it;  for  the  royal 
domain  was  now  reduced  to  the  cities  of  Laon  and  Sois- 
sons,  with' a  few  other  disputed  territories'. 

The  right  of  succession  belonged  to  Charles,  duke  of 
Lorrain,  uncle  to  Lewis  V.  but  the  condition  of  vassal  of 
the  empire  appeared  to  the  French  nobility  a  sufficient 
reason  for  excluding  him,  and  Hugh  Capet  secured  the 
favour  of  the  clergy  by  resigning  to  them  the  abbies 
which  had  been  hereditary  in  his  family.  An  extreme 
devotion,  real  or  assumed,  recommended  him  to  the  peo- 
ple; and  particularly,  his  veneration  for  reliques.  Force 
and  address  seconded  his  ambition,  and  the  national  aver- 
sion against  his  rival  completed  its  success.  He  was 
acknowledged  in  an  assembly  of  the  nobles;  he  was  anoint- 
ed at  Rheims;  and  he  farther  established  his  throne,  by 
associating  his  son  Robert  in  the  government 
*  of  the  kingdom,  and  vesting  him  with  those 
ensigns  of  ro3'alty,  which  he  prudently  denied  himself, 
as  what  might  give  umbrage  to  men  who  were  lately 
his  equals'*. 

In  the  mean  time  the  duke  of  Lorrain  entered  France, 
made  himself  master  of  Laon  by  assault,  and  of  Rheims 

bv  the  treachery  of  archbishop  Arnold,  his 
A.13.  9S9.    ',    .  o        ;.         ,  t  \ 

relation.  But  this  unhappy  pruice  was  after- 
wards himself  betrayed  by  the  bishop  of  Laon,  and  made 
prisoner  for  lifej. 

A  council  was  assembled  for  the  trial  of  Arnold.  He 
was  degraded:  and  Gerbert,  a  man  of  learning  and  genius 
wlio  had  been  tutor  to  the  emperor  Otho  III.  and  to  the 
king's  son  Robert  was  elected  archbishop  of  Rheims.  But 
the  election  was  declared  void:  Arnold  was  re-established 
and  Cierbert  deposed.  The  first,  however,  remained  in 
prison  till  the  death  of  Hugh  Capet,  who  was  more  afraid 
of  Arnold's  intrigues  than  of  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican*, 
while  the  second,  having  found  an  asylum  in  the  court 
of  his  pupil  Otho,  became  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  and 
afterwards  pope,  under  the  name  of  Silvester  II. 

1.  Glab.  Hist,  mi  Temp.  2.  Ibid.  3.  Sigeberti.  Chron. 

4.  Id  ibid. 

Nothing 


LET.  XVIII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  153 

Nothing  else  memorable  happened  during  the  reign 

of  Hugh  Capet,    who  conducted  all  his  affars  with  great 

prudence  and  moderation;  and  had  the  singular  honour 

of  establishing  a  new  family,  and  in  some  measure  a  new 

form  of  government,  with  few  circumstances  of  violence, 

and  without  shedding  blood.   He  died  in  the  ^^„ 

.  .  A.   D.  996. 

iifty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  the  eighth  of 

his  reign,  and  was  quietly  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert 
a  prince  of  a  less  vigorous  genius,  though  not  of  a  less 
amiable  disposition. 

The  most  remarkable  circumstance  ia  the  reigu  of 
Robert,  and  the  most  worthy  of  our  attention,  is  his  ex- 
communication by  the  pope.  This  prince  had  espoused 
Bertha,  his  cousin  in  the  fourth  degree;  a  marriage  not 
only  lawful  according  to  our  present  ideas  of  things, 
and  justified  by  the  practice  of  all  nations^. ancient  and 
modern,  but  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the 'state,  she 
being  the  sister  of  Rodolph,  king  of  Burgundy.  >But  the 
clergy,  among  their  other  usurpations,  had  about, this 
time  made  a  sacrament  of  marriage,  and  laid  the  most 
essential  of  civil  engagements  under  spiritual  prohibitions, 
which  extended  even  to  the  seventh  degi-ee  of  consangui- 
nity. The  popes  politically  arrogated  to  themselves  a 
special  jurisdiction  over  this  first  object  of  society,  and 
that  on  which  all  the  rest  hang.  Gregory  V.  therefore, 
undertook  to  dissolve  the  marriage  between  Robert  and 
Bertha,  though  it  had  been  authorised  by  several  bishops; 
and,  in  a  council  held  at  Rome,  without  examining  the 
cause,  and  without  hearing  the  parties,  he  published; 
with  the  most  despotic  authority,  an  imperious  decree, 
which  ordered  the  king  and  queen  to  be  separated,  under 
peril  of  excommunication.  And  all  the  bishops  v^'ho  had 
countenanced  the  pretended  crime,  were  suspended  from 
their  functions,  until  such  time  as  they  should  make  satis- 
faction to  the  holy  see^ 

Robert,  however,  persisted  in  keeping  his  wife,  and 
thereby  incurred  the  sentence  of  excommunication ;  v/hich, 

S.  Glab.  Hist,  Sid  temp. 
VOL,  I.  B  b  according 


154  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

according  to  cardinal  Peter  Damien,  an  historian  of  those 
times,  had  such  an  effect  on  the  minds  of  men,  that  the 
king  was  abandoned  by  all  his  courtiers,  and  even  by  hi& 
own  domestics,  two  servants  excepted.     And  these  threw 
to  the  dogs  all  the  victuals   which  their  master  left  at 
meals,  and  purified  by  fire,   the  vessels  in  which  he  had 
been   served:   so    fearful    were   they   of  what  had  been 
touched  by  an  excommunicated  persons  I.. ..The  same  cre- 
dulous author  adds,  that  the  queen  was  brought  to  bed 
of  a  monster,  which  had  a  neck  and  head  like  a  goose;. 
a  certain  proof  and  punishment  of  incest'... ..But,  as  Vol- 
taire very  justly  observes,  there  v/as  nothing  monstrous 
in  all  this  affair,  but  the  insolence  of  the  pope,  and  the 
weakness  of  the  king;  who  giving  way  to   superstitious 
terrors,   or  afraid  of  civil  commotions,  at  last  repudiated 
his  wife  Bertha,  and  married  Constance,  daughter  to  the 
count  of  Aries,   in  whom  he  found  an  imperious  terma- 
gant, instead  of  an  amiable  consort.    Gregory  also  obliged 
him  to  restore  the  traitor  Arnold  to  the  see  of  Rheims". 
In  the  meantime  Robert  had  it  in  his  power  to  have 
been  master  of  the  popes,  if  he  had  possessed  the  ambi- 
tion and  the  vigour  necessary  for  such  an  enterprize.  After 

the  death  of  Henrv  II.   the  last  emperor  of  ^^.,  ^ 

,     ,  f.  „         '       ,      r    T  .  ^      f   ,      A.  D.  1024. 

the  house  oi  baxony,  the  Italians^  sick  or  the 

German  dominion,  offered  their  crown,  and  the  imperial 

dignity,  to  the  king  of  France.  Robert,  however,  had  the 

resolution  to  refuse  it;   and  not  only  his  own  subjects, 

6.  Let  US  not,  however,  with  certain  sarcastical  historians,  represent 
this  mode  of  inspiring  religious  terrors  as  an  invention  of  the  Cliristian 
priesthood.  For  Csesar  tells  us  that,  among  the  ancient  Gauls,  if  any  one,. 
whether  magistrate  or  private  person,  refused  to  submit  to  the  sentence  of 
the  Druids,  he  was  interdicted  the  sacrifices ;  and  that,  while  under  such 
•  prohibition,  all  men  J/6"««ec/.him,  lest  they  %\\ovXA  sxtffer  by  the  contagion 
of  his  impiety  (Caesar,  Bell.  Gal.  lib.  vi.)  The  power  of  excommuni. 
CATION,  or  the  authoiity  oi  excluding  the  vicious  and  refractory  from  ;<r- 
ligious  privileges,  is  necessary  indeed  to  every  body  of  priests.  But  it 
ought  to  e.vtend  no  farther,  Xo  ajfect  no  legal  ri^ht,  nor  any  civil  privile^e^ 
7.  Aimon.  Hint.  lib.  y. 

but 


lET.  xvm.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  155 

but  Europe  in  general  was  soon  convinced  that  he  had, 
acted  wisely  J  for  those  who  made  the  proposal,  after- 
wards deserted  the  person  who  accepted  it^. 

The  latter  years  of  Robert's  reign  were  renderet^ 
very  unhappy  by  the  disorders  of  his  family.  Unfortunate 
in  the  death  of  his  eldest  son  Hugh,  whom  he  had  associ- 
ated in  the  sovereignty,  his  queen  Constance,  whose 
haughtiness  was  altogether  insupportable,  attempted  to 
regulate  the  succession.  Having  an  aversion  against  her 
son  Henry,  she  wanted  to  place  her  younger  son  Robert 
on  the  throne.  But  the  king,  by  the  advice  of  his  par- 
liament, confirmed  the  succession  to  Henry,  his  eldest 
surviving  son.  Provoked  at  this  measure,  the  queen 
wanted  to  embroil  the  brothers'^;  but  they,  being  united 
by  a  sincere  friendship,  withstood  all  her  irritations.  At 
length,   become  equally  the  objects  of  her  hatred,  they 

retired  from  court,  and  took  arms  in  order  to  .  ^„^ 

,      .  ,  T  ,  T     1  A.  D.  1031, 

obtam  a  separate  establishment.  In  the  mean- 
time the  king  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry. 
There  is  not  any  monarch  in  the  French  history  more 
generally,  or  more  highly  commended  than  Robert,  not- 
withstanding his  weakness  of  temper,  or  on  whose  death 
the  lamentations  of  all  ranks  of  people  were  louder  or 
more  sincere.  The  monks  spoke  the  sense  of  the  whole 
nation,  when  they  deplored  him  in  these  words:  *'  We 
"  have  lost  a  father,  who  governed  us  in  peace.  We  lived 
"  under  him  in  security;  for  he  did  not  oppress,  or  sufi'er 
*•  oppression:  we  loved  him,  and  there  was  nobody  whom 
"  he  feared'"." 

Henry  I.  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age  at  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  and  with  all  the  spirit  of  a  young  man, 
he  had  the  sagacity  and  prudence  of  one  more  advanced 
in  years;  without  which,  the  crown  had  been  shaken  from 
his  head  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  placed  there.  His  mother 
Constance,  who  hated  him,  as  has  been  observed,  and 
who  was  ambitious  still  to  govern,  had  drawn  over  to  her 

8.  Id.  Ibid.     9.  Glab.  Hist,  sui  Temp.     10.  Helgaldus.  Glab,  ubi  sup. 

party 


156  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

pai-ty  a  number  of  Lords  and  bishops,  under  pretence  of 
supporting  the  cause  of  her  younger  son  Robert.  Henry, 
therefore,  after  some  ineffectual  struggles,  was  obliged 
to  take  refuge  in  Normandy,  M'here  he  was  received  with 
all  possible  respect  by  duke  Robert;  who  assured  him, 
that  the  treasures  and  forces  of  the  duchy  were  at  his 
disposal.  Nor  Avere  these  mere  expressions  of  civility: 
an  army  of  Normans  entered  France  on  one  side,  while 
the  king  and  the  royal  party  invaded  it  on  the  other.  The 
queen  dowager  and  her  faction  were  humbled,  and  Henry 
recovered  all  that  he  had  lost.  But  although  this  contest 
ended  gloriously  for  the  king,  it  proved  hurtful  to  the 
monarchy;  for  as  the  suceess  of  the  war  was  principally 
owing  to  the  duke  of  Normandy,  Henry  added  to  his 
duchy  Gisors,  Chaumont,  Fontoise,  and  that  part  of  the 
Vexin  which  yet  remained  to  the  crown". 

The  next  affair  of  importance  that  occupied  the  king's 
Attention  was  the  succession  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy. 
Duke  Robert  had  thought  fit,  in  compliance  with  the 
fashionable  devotion  of  those  times,  to  make  a  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem.  But  before  his  departure,  as  he  was  a 
prudent  prince,  though  now  old  and  superstitious,  he 
assembled  his  nobles;  and,  informing  them  of  his  pious 
purpose,  the  length  of  the  jcurney,  and  the  dangers  to 
v/hich  he  must  be  exposed,  he  engaged  them  to  swear 
allegiance  to  his  natural  son  William,  whom  he  tenderly 
loved,  and  intended  for  his  successor,  as  he  had  no  legi- 
timate issue.  He  also  recommended  the  guardianship  of 
this  son,  who  was  only  nine  years  of  age,  to  two  persons 
in  whom  he  placed  the  greatest  confidence;  Henry  I. 
king  of  France,  and  Alain  duke  of  Bretagne".  But  these 
precautions  did  not  prevent  many  disorders,  which  a 
mind  not  hoodwinked  by  superstition  must  have  foreseen; 
arising  from  the  habitual  turbulency  of  the  great,  the 
illegitimacy  of  William  and  the  claims  from  other  branches 
of  the  ducal  family. 

11.  Gul.  Gemel.  lib.  vi.      12.  Id.  ibid. 

Robert 


iET.  XVIII.]     MODERN   EUROPE.  157 

Robert  died,  as  he  had  apprehended,  in  his  pilgri- 
mage; and  left  his  son  rather  the  heir  of 
his  wishes  than  of  his  dominions.  The 
licentious  nobles,  freed  from  the  awe  of  sovereign 
authority,  broke  out  into  personal  quarrels,  and  made 
the  whole  duchy  a  scene  of  war  and  devastation.  Alain, 
duke  of  Bretagne,  came  to  appease  their  animosities; 
but  being  very  roughly  treated,  be  returned  home,  and 
was  soon  after  carried  off  by  slow  poison,  supposed  to 
have  been  given  him  in  Normandy.  Various  preten- 
ders arose  to  the  succession;  and  the  king  of  France 
forgetting  what  he  owed  to  Robert,  seemed  willing  to 
deprive  his  infant  son  of  his  inheritance,  by  taking 
advantage  of  these  troubles.  He  accordingly  invaded 
the  Norman  frontier,  and  reduced  several  places:  but 
not  finding  the  conquest  so  easy  as  he  expected,  or 
influenced  by   the  returning  sentiments  of  friendship 

and  e-enerosity,  he  united  his  forces  with  ^^^z-* 

r  ,  J    1  J    1-  1  A.    D.    1046. 

those  ol  the  young  duke,  and  the  malecon- 

tents  were  totally  routed  in  the  battle  of  Val  de  Dunes, 

which  gave  William  quiet  possession  of  his  dominions'^. 

Henry  I.  died  in  1060,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Philip,  whom  he  had  by  his  second  wife,  and  the 
first  with  whom  he  cohabited,  the  daughter  of  Joradis- 
laus,  duke  of  Russia;  a  circumstance  truly  remarkable, 
in  an  age  when  the  intercourse  between  nations  was  so 
little  familiar.  But  the  prohibitions  of  marriage  were 
so  multiplied,  and  the  example  of  his  father  so  alarm- 
ing, that  Henry  is  supposed  to  have  sought  a  wife  in 
this  remote  country,  in  order  to  avoid  the  crime  of 
incest,  and  the  danger  of  excommunication.  What 
must  the  disorders  of  society  have  been,  when  even  a 
king  did  not  know  whom  he  might  lawfully  marry. 

Philip  I.  was  only  eight  years  of  age  at  the  time 

of  his  accession;  and,  what  is  very  sinc:ular,  ^^^^ 

,     p ,    .  '        ,         ,     ■'        ^,.         A.  D.    1060. 

instead  or  oemg  put  under  the   guardian- 

13.  GuL  Geinet.  ubi  sup. 

ship 


158  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

ship  of  his  mother  or  his  uncle,  one  of  whom  it  might 
naturally  be  supposed  would  have  been  called  to  the 
regency,  he  was  committed  by  his  father  to  the  care  of 
Baldwin  V.  surnamcd  the  Pious,  earl  of  Flanders;  a 
man  of  strict  honour,  and  brother-in-law  to  Henry. 
Baldwin  gave  his  pupil  an  education  suitable  to  hid 
rank;  he  kept  the  nobility  in  awe,  without  giving  them 
just  cause  of  offence ;  and  he  maintained  peace,  by  being 
always  prepared  for  war.  History,  in  a  v/ord,  scarce 
furnishes  us  with  an  instance  ol  a  minority  more  quiet 
and  of  none  more  happy;  an  example  the  more  remarka- 
ble, as  the  times  and  circumstances  of  it  were  both 
delicate. 

The  only  colour  that  Baldwin  gave  for  censure,  was 
in  his  conduct  towards  William  duke  of  Normand}-, 
ivho  was  preparing  to  invade  England,  and  whom  he 
permitted  to  raise  forces  in  France  and  Flanders;  a 
liberty  which,  from  the  event,  was  judged  impolitic. 
But  the  duke  being  his  son-in-law,  he  could  not  refuse 
him  with  a  good  grace:  and  there  was  yet  a  farther 
motive  for  compliance.  The  fortunate  and  enterprising 
William  might  have  entered  France  with  that  army 
which  he  had  assembled  against  England  where  h6 
succeeded  more  speedily,  and  with  more  case  than  could 
possibly  have  been  expected.  But  the  particulars  of 
that  invasion,  and  its  consequences,  belong  to  the  his- 
tory of  our  own  country.  I  shall  therefore  only  here 
observe,  that  to  balance  in  some  measure  the  increase 
of  William's  power,  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
was  concluded  between  the  crowns  of 
*  France  and  Scotland.  Soon  after  that  nego- 
ciation  Baldwin  died,  and  left  his  pupil  Philip  I.  in 
peaceable  possession  of  his  kingdom,  when  he  had 
attained  his   fifteenth  year"*. 

14.  Pul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii. 

LETTER 


j.£T.  XIX.]  M0DP:RN  EUROPE.  tS9 


LETTER  XIX. 

ENGLAND   rRO:^!   THE   DANISH    TO  THE   NORMAN  CONQJJF.ST. 

Y  OU  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  Ed- 
mond  Ironside  inhumanly  murdered,  and  England  ex- 
posed to  the  ambition  of  Canute  the  Dane;  a  prince  both 
active  and  brave,  and  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army, 
ready  to   take   advantage  of  the   minority  of  ir\i'-' 

Edwin  and  Edward,  the  sons  of  Edmond. 
The  English  could  therefore  expect  nothing  but  total 
subjection  from  Canute.  But  the  Danish  monarch,  com- 
monly so  little  scrupulous,  shewed,  on  this  occasion,  an 
anxiety  to  conceal  his  injustice  under  plausible  preten- 
ces. Before  he  seized  the  inheritence  of  the  two  young 
princes,  he  summoned  a  general  assembly  of  the  states 
of  England  in  order  to  fix  the  succession;  and  having 
suborned  some  noblemen  to  depose  that  in  the  treaty  of 
Gloucester  it  was  agreed,  "  That  Canute,  in  case  of  Ed- 
"  mond's  decease,  should  succeed  to  the  whole  king- 
"  dom,"  the  states,  convinced  by  this  evidence,  or  over- 
awed by  his  victorious  arms,  immediately  put  the  Dane 
in  full  possession  of  the  government'. 

But  although  Canute  had  now  attained  the  great  ob- 
ject of  his  ambition  in  the  undivided  sovereignty  of  En- 
gland, he  was  at  first  obliged  to  make  many  sacrifices  to 
it ;  and  to  gratify  the  chief  nobility,  by  bestowing  on 
them  extensive  governments  and  jurisdictions.  He  also 
thought  himself  obliged,  from  political  motives,  to  ex- 
ercise some  severities.  In  order  to  reward  his  Danish 
followers,  he  loaded  the  people  with  oppressive  taxes ;. 
and  jealous  of  the  tv/o  young  princes,  but  sensible  that 
he  should  render  himself  detested  if  he  ordered  them  to 
be  murdered  in  England,  he  sent  them  to  his  ally  the 
king  of  Sweden,  whom  he  desired  to  get  them  privately 

1.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  R.  Hoveden,  Annal.  pars  prior. 

dispatched, 


160  THE  HISTORY  OP  [part  u 

dispatched,  as  soon  as  they  arrived  at  his  court.  But 
the  Swedish  monarch  was  too  generous  to  comply  with 
such  a  barbarous  request.  Afraid,  however,  to  draw 
on  himself  the  displeasure  of  Canute,  by  protecting  the 
English  princes,  he  sent  them  to  be  educated  in  the 
court  of  Solomon,  king  of  Hungary  j  a  strange  place 
surely  to  seek  for  a  preceptor.  But  the  defenceless  seek 
only  a  protector :  and  the  sons  of  Edmond  found  one 
in  Solomon.  Edv/in,  the  eldest,  was  married  to  that 
monarch's  sister  ;  but  he  dying  without  issue,  Solomon 
gave  his  sister-in-law,  Agatha,  daughter  of  the  Empe- 
ror Henry  II.  in  marriage  to  Edward,  the  younger  bro- 
ther :  and  she  bore  him  Edgar  Atlieling,  whom  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  mention  ;  Margaret,  afterwards  queen 
of  Scotland  ;  and  Christina,  who  retired  into  a  convent** 
The  removal  of  Edmond's  children  into  so  distant  a 
country  as  Hungary,  was  regarded  by  Canute,  next  to 
their  death,  as  the  greatest  security  of  his  government. 
But  he  was  still  under  alarm  on  account  of  Alfred  and 
Edward,  the  sons  of  Ethelred,  who  were  protected  and 
supported  by  their  uncle,  Richard  duke  of  Normandy. 
Richard  had  even  fitted  out  a  fleet,  on  purpose  to  restore 
the  English  princes  to  the  throne  of  their  ancestors.  In 
order,  therefore,  to  break  the  storm,  and  to  secure  him- 
self on  that  side,  Canute  paid  his  addresses  to  queen 
Emma,  the  duke's  sister,  and  the  mother  of  those  prin- 
ces who  disputed  his  sway.  He  was  listened  to  :  Ri- 
chard sent  over  Emma  to  England  j  where  she  was  soon 
after  married  to  Canute,  the  enemy  of  her  former  hus- 
band's family,  and  the  conqueror  of  that  country  which 
her  children  had  a  right  to  rule.  But  Canute  promised 
that  her  children  should  still  rule  it,  though  not  the 
children  of  Ethelred  ;  and,  although  the  English  disap- 
proved of  the  match,  they  were  pleased  to  find  at  court 
a  sovereign  to  v.hom  they  were  accustomed  :  so  that 
the  conqueror,  by  this  marriage,  not  only  secured  the 
alliance   of  Normandy,  but  acquired  the  confidence  of 

2.  Id.  ibid. 

his 


iET.  xix.j  MODERN  EUROPE.  i61 

his  new  subjects.  Having  thus  freed  himself  from  the 
danger  of  a  revolution,  Canute  determined,  like  a  truly 
wise  prince,  by  the  equity  of  his  administration,  to  re- 
concile the  English  yet  farther  to  the  Danish  yoke.  He 
sent  back  to  their  own  country  as  many  of  his  followers 
as  could  safely  be  spared  :  he  restored  the  Saxon  cus- 
toms ;  he  made  no  distinction  between  the  Danes  and 
English  in  the  distribution  of  justice  ;  and  he  took  care, 
by  a  strict  execution  of  law,  to  protect  the  lives  and  pro- 
perties of  all  his  subjects^  The  Danes  were  gradually 
incorporated  with  the  native  English  ;  and  both  were 
glad  to  breathe  a  little  from  those  multiplied  calamities, 
which  the  conquerors,  no  less  than  the  conquered,  had 
experienced  in  their  struggle  for  dominion. 

The  first  use  that  Canute  made  of  this  tranquillity 
was  to  visit  Denmark,  where  he  obtained  a  victory  over 
the  Swedes,  by  the  valour  of  the  Enp;lish  un-  ^^^^ 

'VD.ioi  y » 

der  the  command  of  earl   Godwin,  on  whom'  * 

he  bestowed  his    daughter    in    marriage.      In  a  second 

voyage  to  Denmark,  he  made  himself  master  of  Norway, 

and  expelled  the  good  Olaus  from  his  kingdom.    Canute 

jeems  to  have  attained  the  height  of  his  am- 

f..  r       f  ,..  •     1     i:  A.  D.  1028. 

bition ;   tor,  trom  this  period,  he  appears  not 

only  to  have  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  future  conquests, 
but  to  have  held  in  contempt  all  the  glories  and  pleasures 
of  the  world  :  a  necessary  consequence,  my  dear  Philip, 
of  assigning  to  human  enjoyments  a  satisfaction  which 
they  cannot  yield,  and  more  especially  of  pursuing  them, 
(another  effect  of  the  same  cause)  at  the  expense  of  jus- 
tice and  humanity. 

During  this  change  of  mind  it  must  have  been  that 
Canute,  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  prince  of  his 
time,  being  sovereign  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  En- 
gland, put  to  the  blush  his  flattering  courtiers,  who 
exclaimed  in  admiration  of  his  grandeur,  that  every  thing 
was  possiblt  for  him.     He  ordered  a  chair  to  be  brought, 

o,  Gul.  Malrnes.  lib.  ii. 
VOL.  t.  c  c  and 


102  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

and  seated  himself  on  the  sea-shore,  while  the  tide  was 
rising  ;  and  as  the  waves  approached,  he  said,  in  an  im- 
perious tone.  "  Thou  sea  I  art  under  my  dominion,  and 
*'  the  land  which  I  sit  upon  is  mine  :  I  chaige  thee,  ap- 
"  preach  no  farther  !  nor  dare  to  w^et  the  feet  of  thy  so- 
"  vereign."  He  even  sat  some  time  in  seeming  expec- 
tation of  submission  :  but  as  the  sea  still  advanced  to- 
wards him,  and  at  last  began  to  wash  him  with  its  bil- 
lows, he  turned  to  his  courtiers,  and  observed,  that 
every  creature  in  the  universe  is  feeble  and  impotent ; 
and  that  power  resides  only  with  one  Being,  in  whose 
hands  are  the  elements  of  nature,  and  who  can  say  to 
the  ocean,   "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,   and  no  farther''!" 

But  although  Canute,  sick  of  worldly  greatness,  began 
to  turn  his  eyes  towards  a  future  state  of  existence,  the 
spirit  which  prevailed  in  that  age  unfortunately  gave  a 
wrong  direction  to  his  piety.  Instead  of  making  repa- 
ration to  the  persons  whom  he  had  injured  by  former 
acts  of  violence,  he  built  churches,  endowed  monaste- 
ries, and  appointed  prayers  to  be  said  for  the  souls  of 
those  who  had  fallen  in  batile  against  him  ;  nay,  more 
meritorious  than  all  the  rest !  he  undertook  a  pilgrimage 
to  Rome. 

After  his  return  from  Rome,  Canute  performed  no- 
thing memorable,  except  an  expedition  against  Malcolm 
^..^  king  of  Scotland,  whom  he  humbled.  He  died 
'in  1035,  and  left  the  crown  of  England  to  his 
son  Harold  Harefoot,  by  his  first  wife,  Alfwen,  daugh- 
ter to  the  earl  of  Hampshire,  in  prejudice  of  Hardica- 
nute,  his  son  by  queen  Emma,  to  whom  he  had  promised 
the  succession^ 

Harold  reigned  only  four  years.      He  was  succeeded 

by  his  brother  Hardicanute,  whose   reign 
A.  D.    1039.  .  . 

was  yet  shorter.    Neither  of  these  princes 

had    any  qualities   that  merit  your   attention,   nor  did 

any  thing  memorable  happen  during  their  reigns.      It 


4-  Jii^iia  Sacra,  toI.  i.  5.  Cbrflti.  Sax.  H.  Hunting    R.  Hovcdcn. 

will 


lET.  XIX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  16S 

will    therefore    be    sufficient    to    observe,   that    on  the 

death  of  Hardicanute,  who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  brutal 

intemperance,   the   English  shook   off  the  .^.^ 

„       .  V         ,  1  ?i     1   r  TVT  A.  D.    1041. 

Danish  yoke,   rind  recalled  Irom  JNorman- 

dy  EdAvard,   sou  of  Ethelred  and  Emma,  surnamed  the 

Confessor,  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors. 

This  revolution  was  effected  without  bloodshed  :  and 
the  mild  and  equitable  government  of  Edward  soon  re- 
conciled the  Danes,  no  less  than  the  English,  to  his 
sway.  The  distinction  between  the  two  nations  va- 
nished. But  the  English  in  vain  flattered  themselves, 
that  they  were  forever  delivered  from  foreign  masters, 
A  little  time  convinced  them,  that  the  evil  was  rather 
suspended  than  removed. 

Edward  had  been  educated  in  Normandy  ;  and  ha- 
ving contracted  many  intimacies  with  the  natives  of 
that  country,  as  well  as  an  affection  for  their  manners, 
the  court  of  England  was  soon  filled  with  Normans, 
who  were  distinguished  by  the  royal  favour,  and  had 
great  influence  on  the  national  councils.  He  had  also, 
it  appears,  though  married  to  a  beautiful  woman,  made 
an  indiscreet  vow  of  virginity,  which  rendered  his  bed 
sterile,  but  obtained  to  him  from  the  monks  the  title 
of  saint  and  Confessor  :  and  he  had  given  his  kinsman, 
William  duke  of  Normandy,  hopes  of  succeeding  to 
the  English  crown.  What  use  that  enterprizing  prince 
made  of  this  promise,  real  or  pretended,  we  shall  after^ 
ward  have  occasion  to  see. 

In  the  mean  time  the  English,  and  particularly  earl 
Godwin,  the  most  powerful  nobleman  in  the  kingdom, 
and  who  had  hopes  of  exalting  his  own  son  to  the 
throne,  bec.une  jealous  of  the  preference  shewn  to 
foreigners,  and  openly  revolted.  The  rebels  were  re- 
duced :  the  estates  of  Godwin  and  his  son  were  con- 
fiscated ;   and  they  were  obliged  to  flee  the  realm.     But 

they  soon  after  returned,    and  reduced  the 

1  •       *  ,•  .  ,j  ,  .  ,       ,  ,      A,  D  .    1053 

king  to  conditions  ;    tiic  moit  considerable 


164  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  which  was,  that  all  foreigners  should  be  banished  the 
kingdom^. 

Godv/in's  death,  which  happened  shortly  after  this 
treaty,  prevented  him  from  establishing  that  authority 
which  he  had  acquired  at  the  expense  of  the  crown. 
But  his  son  Harold,  who  succeeded  him  in  his  estates 
and  offices,  and  who,  with  an  ambition  equal  to  his  fa- 
ther's, was  superior  to  him  in  address  and  insinuation, 
proved  no  less  dangerous  to  the  vmsuspecting  and  un- 
warlike  Edward,  whose  confidence  he  had 
obtained.  And  the  death  of  Siward,  duke 
of  Northumberland,  while  it  enfeebled  the  royal  au- 
thority, gave  still  more  consequence  to  the  ambitious 
Harold.  Siward,  beside  his  loyalty,  and  exploits  in 
behalf  of  the  crown,  had  acquired  honour  to  England, 
by  his  successful  conduct  in  the  only  foreign  enterprise 
undertaken  during  this  reign  :  and  as  it  is  connected 
with  a  memorable  circumstance  in  the  history  of  a 
neighbouring  kingdom,  as  well  as  with  the  intrigues  of 
Harold,  it  doubly  deserves  our  attention. 

Duncan,  king  of  Scotland,  a  prince  of  a  gentle  dis- 
position, and  some  talents,  but  not  possessed  of  suf- 
ficient vigour  to  govern  a  turbulent  nation,  distracted 
by  the  animosities  of  the  great,  had  laid  himself  open 
to  the  designs  of  Macbeth,  a  powerful  nobleman,  nearly 
allied  to  the  crown  ;  and  who,  not  contented  with  curb- 
ing the  king's  authority,  carried  yet  farther  his  traite- 
rous  ambition.  He  murdered  his  sovereign  ;  usurped 
the  crown  ;  and  chased  Malcolm  Kcnmure,  the  prince 
and  heir,  into  England.  Siward  whose  daughter  was 
married  to  Duncan,  undertook,  by  Edward's  orders, 
the  protection  of  this  unhappy  family.  He  marched  an 
army  into  Scotland,  defeated  and  killed  Macbeth  in 
battle,  and  restored  Malcolm  to  the  throne  of  his  an- 
cestors. This  service  added  to  his  former  connections 
with  the  royal  family  of  Scotland,  brought  great  acces- 

6.  R.  Hoveden.     Sim.  Dunclm. 

sion 


LET.  XIX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  165 

sion  to  the  authority  of  Siward  in  the  north,  and  ena- 
bled him  to  be  highly  useful  to  Edward,  in  restraining 
the  ambition  of  Godwin  and  his  powerful  family  ;  but 
as  he  had  lost  his  eldest  son  Osbern,  in  the  action  with 
Macbeth,  it  proved  eventually  fatal  to  his  house  and 
hurtful  to  the  crown.  The  duke's  second  son,  Wol- 
theof,  appeared  too  young,  on  his  father's  death,  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  government  of  Northumberland  : 
and  Harold's  influence  obtained  that  dukedom  for 
Tosti  his  own  brother^. 

There  ar^  two  anecdotes  related  of  Siward,  which 
strongly  mark  his  character,  and  are  eminently  express- 
ive of  that  enthusiasm  of  valour,  so  long  predominant 
in  the  house  of  Northumberland.  When  informed  of 
his  son  Osbern's  death,  he  was  at  first  inconsolable. 
But  enquiring  how  he  fell,  and  being  told  that  he  be- 
haved with  great  gallantry,  and  that  his  wound  was  in 
the  breast,  the  feelings  of  the  father  seemed  lost  in  those 
of  the  soldier ;  his  grief  was  transformed  into  joy. 
"  Would  to  God,"  exclaimed  he,  "  that  I  had  as  many 
*'  sons  as  I  have  hairs,  that  I  might  lose  them  thus  1" 
And  when  he  found  his  own  death  approaching,  he 
ordered  himself  to  be  clothed  in  a  suit  of  complete  ar- 
mour J  and  sitting  erect  on  a  couch,  with  a  spear  in  his 
hand,  "  In  this  posture,"  said  he,  "  the  only  one  wor- 
"  thy  of  a  warrior,  I  will  meet  the  tyrant :  if  I  cannot 
"  conquer,  I  shall  at  least  y^ce"  the  combat"'." 

Tosti  behaved  so  tyrauically  in  his  government  of 
Northumberland,  that  the  people  rose  against  him,  and 
expelled  him  by  force  of  arms  ;  a  circumstance  which 
contributed  much  to  his  brother's  aggrandizement.  Har- 
old was  appointed  by  the  king  to  punish  the  Northum- 
brians, and  advanced  with  an  army  for  that  purpose;  but 
being  met  by  a  deputation  from  Morcar,  who  had  been 
elected  duke,  and  finding  that  Tosti  had  acted  in  a  man- 
ner unworthy  of  his  station,  he  returned  to  the  king,  and 

7.  Gul.  Malmes.    lib.  ii.       Buchanan,  lib.  vii.     8.  H.  Hunting,  iib.  vii. 

generously 


16a  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

generously  persuaded  him  not  only  to  pardon  the  rebels, 
but  even  to  confirm  Morcar  in  the  dukedom.  He  after- 
ward married  the  sister  of  that  nobleman,  and  got  her 
younger  brother,  Edwin,  elected  into  the  government  of 
Mercia.  He  also  undertook  an  expedition  against  the 
Welsh,  whom  he  obliged  to  receive  English  governors'. 
By  these  political  and  fortunate  steps,  Harold  soon 
found  himself  in  a  condition  openly  to  aspire  at  the  suc- 
cession to  the  crown.  He  had  gained  the  affections  of 
his  countrymen  by  his  lenity  to  the  Northumbrians  :  he 
had  raised  their  admiration  of  his  valour,  by  his  con- 
quest of  Wales  ;  and  so  great  was  his  influence  that  he 
laid  almost  all  England  under  the  command  of  himself 
or  his  friends.  His  competitors  for  the  succession  were 
Edgar  Atheling,  the  sole  surviving  heir  to  the  crown, 
who  had  been  recalled  from  Hungary,  and  William  duke 
of  Normandy,  the  king's  cousin.  But  the  first  was  a 
youth  whose  imbecility  was  thought  suificient  to  set  aside 
his  claim,  and  the  second  a  foreigner.  Edward's  pre- 
possessions hindered  him  from  supporting  the   preten- 

.---     sions  of  Harold,   and  his  irresolution  from 
A.  D.  IOdo,  .         ,  1       ,    -         r  T«.T 

securing  the  crown  to  the  duke  oi  Norman- 
dy, whom  he  secretly  favoured:  he  therefore  died  with- 
out appointing  a  successor,  being  worn  out  with  age  and 
infirmities,  and  more  anxious  about  obtaining  a  heavenly, 
than  settling  his  earthly  inheritance. 

Edward  the  Confessor  was  the  first  v/ho  touched  for 
the  schrophula,  hence  denominated  the  King's  evil.  The 
opinion  of  his  sanctity  procured  belief,  among  the  super- 
stitious vulgar,  to  this  mode  of  cure  :  and  his  successors 
regarded  it  as  a  part  of  their  royalty  to  support  the  same 
idea.  The  practice  was  first  dropt  by  the  princes  of  the 
house  of  Brunswic  ;  who  v/isely  considered,  that  such  a 
pretension  must  be  attended  with  ridicule  in  the  eyes  of 
all  men  of  cultivated  minds,  and  even  become  the  scorn 
of  an  enlightened  populace.     Posterity  arc  more  indebt- 

5.  Orcknc.  Vital. 

ed 


LET.  XIX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  167 

ed  to  this  prince  for  the  body  of  laws  which  he  compi- 
led, and  which  on  account  of  their  mildness,  were  long 
dear  to  our  ancestors. 

Though  Edward  left  the  succession  undecided,  it  did 
not  long  continue  so.  Harold  immediately  stepped  into 
the  vacant  throne ;  and  so  well  had  he  taken  his  measures, 
that  his  accession  was  attended  with  as  little  opposition 
or  disturbance,  as  if  he  had  succeeded  by  the  most  indis- 
putable hereditary  title.  The  right  of  Edgar  Atheling 
was  scarce  ever  mentioned;  and  still  less  the  claim  of 
the  duke  of  Normandy:  the  whole  nation  seemed  joyfully 
to  swear  allegiance  to  the  new  king'°. 

The  first  danger  that  Harold  experienced  was  from 
abroad,  and  from  his  own  brother.  Tosti,  when  ex- 
pelled the  government  of  Northumberland,  had  sub- 
mitted to  a  voluntary  banishment  in  Flanders  :  but  no 
sooner  was  he  informed  of  the  accession  of  Harold,  to 
whose  fortunate  ambition  he  considered  himself  to 
have  fallen  a  sacrifice,  than  he  entered  into  a  league 
with  Halfagcr  king  of  Norway,  who  invaded  England 
with  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  sail.  Tosti  himself  had 
collected  about  sixty  vessels  in  the  ports  of  Flanders, 
with  which  he  put  to  sea  ;  and  after  committing  some 
depredations  on  the  south  and  east  coasts  of  England, 
he  sailed  to  Northumberland,  where  he  was  joined  by 
Halfager  and  his  powerful  armament.  The  combined 
fleets  disembarked  their  troops  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Humber;  and  the  earls  of  Northumberland  and  Mercia 
were  defeated  in  attempting  to  oppose  the  Invaders. 

Harold  was  no  sooner  informed  of  this  disaster,  than 
he  hastened  to  the  north  ;  anxious  for  the  safety  of  his 
people,  and  ambitious  to  shew  himself  worthy  of  that 
crown  which  had  been  conferred  upon  him  by  his  coun- 
trymen. The  English  flocked  from  all  quarters  to  his 
standard  :  so  that  he  found  himself  in  a  condition  to 
give  battle  to  his  enemies,  as  soon  as  he  reached  them. 

10.  Gul.  rict.  Order.  Vital. 

The 


168  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The  two  armies  engaged  at  Stanford.  The  action, 
which  was  long  and  bloody,  ultimately  terminated  in 
the  total  rout  of  the  Danes,  and  in  the  death  of  Tosti 
and  Halfager.  Harold,  however,  had  scarce  time  to 
rejoice  on  account  of  this  victory,  before  he  received 
intelligence,  that  the  duke  of  Normandy,  having  land- 
ed with  a  formidable  force  in  the  south  of  England, 
determined  to  dispute  with  him  the  crown. 

The  Norman  prince  (whom  I  have  already  had  oc- 
casion to  mention,  both  in  the  history  of  France  and  of 
England)  founded  his  claim  to  the  English  crown  on  a 
-pretended  will  of  Edward  the  Confessor  in  his  favour. 
This  claim  he  fortified  with  an  oath  extorted  from  Ha- 
rold when  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  France,  that  he 
would  never  r  ;pire  to  the  succession,  and  by  which  he 
bound  himself  to  support  the  pretensions  of  William. 
The  will  Harold  knew  to  be  void  of  foundation,  and 
the  oath  he  entirely  disregarded,  as  it  had  not  only 
been  drawn  from  him  by  the  fear  of  violence,  but  was 
in  itself  unlawful  ;  unless  William  had  not  only  been 
appointed  successor  by  the  king,  but  chosen  by  the 
people,  the  English  crown  not  being  at  the  disposal  of 
the  sovereign.  He  therefore  replied  to  the  Norman 
ambassadors,  who  summoned  him  to  resign  the  king- 
dom, that  he  was  determined  strenuously  to  maintain 
those  national  liberties  with  which  he  had  been  intrust- 
ed, and  that  the  same  moment  should  put  a  period  to 
his  life  and  his  sway". 

This  answer  was  no  other  than  what  William  ex- 
pected. He  knew  the  valour  of  Harold,  and  the 
power  of  the  English  nation  ;  but  he  consulted  only 
his  ambition,  and  his  courage.  The  boldness  of  the 
enterprise  he  thought  would  astonish  the  enemy,  and 
inspire  his  soldiers  with  resolution  from  despair,  as 
well  as  from  a  desire  of  supporting  the  reputation  of 
their  countrymen  ;  who   had   about   this  time   revived 

■  11.  Gul.  Mslmes.  lib.  iii.      Higden.  Matth.  West. 

their 


LET.  xix.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  ley 

their  ancient  fame,  as  we  shall  afterward  have  occasion 
to  see,  by  the  most  hazardous  exploits,  and  the  most 
wonderful  successes,  in  the  other  extremity  of  Europe. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  foundation  of  William's 
hopes.  A  military  spirit  had  universally  diffused  itself 
over  Europe  ;  and  the  feudal  nobles,  whose  minds 
were  elated  by  their  princely  situation,  greedily  em- 
braced the  most  hazardous  enterprlzes,  how  little  so- 
ever they  might  be  interested  in  the  failure  or  success. 
Hence  their  passion  for  chivalry,  and  their  ambition 
to  outshine  each  other  in  exertions  of  strength  or 
prowess.  William  had  long  been  distinguished  among 
those  haughty  chieftains  by  his  power,  his  courage,  and 
his  address  in  all  military  exercises  ;  and  every  one 
ambitious  of  acquiring  renown  in  arms,  repaired  to  the 
court  of  Normandy,  where  they  were  entertained  with 
that  hospitality  and  courtesy  which  distinguished  the 
age.  The  fame  of  the  intended  invasion  of  England 
had  been  every  where  diffused  :  the  more  perilous  the 
attempt  appeared,  the  more  it  suited  the  genius  of  the 
times  :  multitudes  of  adventurers  therefore  crowded  to 
tender  their  service  to  William,  impatient  to  acquire 
fame  under  so  renowned  a  leader,  or  to  support,  by 
new  acts  of  valour,  that  reputation  which  they  had  al- 
ready earned"'  ;  so  that  the  duke's  army  consisted  of 
the  flower  of  all  the  warriors  of  the  continent,  deter- 
mined to  die  or  to  conquer. 

The  continental  monarchs  could  surely  have  ob- 
structed those  supplies.  But  Philip  I.  of  France,  whose 
interest  most  it  was,  being  a  minor,  Baldwin,  earl  of 
Flanders,  William's  father-in-law,  who  then  held  the 
reigns  of  government,  favoured  the  duke's  levies  (as 
I  have  had  occasion  to  observe)  both  in  France  and 
Flanders  ;  and  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  besides  giving 
all  his  vassals  leave  to  embark  in  this  expedition,  which 
so  much  engaged  the  attention  of  Europe,  promised 
his   protection  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy  during  the 

12.  Gul,  rictav. 
VOL,  I.  D  d  absence 


170  THE   HISTORY  OF  OarT  i. 

absence  of  the  duke,   and  thereby  enabled  him  to  dravr 
his  whole  strength  to  the  attack  of  England. 

But  William's  most  important  ally  was  pope  Alexan- 
der II.  who  had  a  mighty  influence  over  the  warriors  of 
that  age  ;  and  who,  besides  being  flattered  by  an  appeal 
which  William  had  made  to  the  caurt  af  Rome  in  fa- 
vour of  his  undertaking,  at  a  time  when  this  pontiff 
wanted  to  be  the  arbiter  of  princes,  foresaw  that  if  the 
French  and  Norman  barons  were  successful  in  their 
enterprize,  they  would  import  into  England,  which 
still  maintained  some  degree  of  independence  in  ec- 
clesiastical matters,  a  more  devoted  reverence  to  the 
holy  see.  He  therefore  declared  immediately  in  favour 
of  William's  claim  :  pronounced  Harold  a  perjured 
usurper  ;  denounced  excommvmication  against  him  and 
his  adherents  ;  and  in  order  more  particularly  to  en- 
courage the  duke,  he  sent  him  a  consecrated  banner^ 
and  a  ring  with  one  of  St.  Peter's  hairs  in  it^.  Thus, 
as  the  sagacious  Hume  remarks,  all  the  ambition  and 
violence  of  this  invasion  were  covered  safely  over  with 
the  broad  mantle  of  religion. 

The  Norman  fleet,  which  consisted  of  three  hun- 
dred vessels,  great  and  small,  and  carried  an  arniy  of 
sixty  thousand  men,  selected  by  William  from  those 
numerous  supplies  that  courted  his  sei'vice,  had  been  as- 
sembled early  in  the  summer,  and  put  to  sea  soon  after  ; 
but  being  long  detained  by  contrary  winds,  the  troops 
began  to  imagine  that  heaven  had  declared  against  them, 
and  that,  notwithstanding  the  pope's  benediction,  they 
were  destined  to  destruction.  The  wind,  however,  for- 
tunately changed  on  the  eve  of  the  feast  of  St.  Michael, 
the  tutelar  saint  of  Normandy ;  and  the  soldiers  and 
their  bold  leaders,  who  had  an  equal  contempt  of  real, 
and  a  dread  of  imaginary  dangers,  fancying  they  saw 
the  hand  of  Providence  in  the  cause  of  their  former  ter- 
rors, set  out  with  the  greatest  alacrity,  and  safely  arrived 
at  Pcvensey  in  Sussex,  where  the  troops  quietly  disem- 

13.  Baker,.  Chront 

barked^ 


LET.  XIX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  in 

barked.  The  duke  himself  had  the  misfortune  to  fall, 
as  he  leaped  ashore  ;  a  circumstance  which,  considering 
the  superstition  of  the  times,  might  have  been  construed 
to  his  disadvantage,  but  which  he  had  the  presence  of 
mind  to  turn  in  his  favour,  by  calling  aloud,  "  I  have 
taken  possession  of  England  !"  and  a  soldier  running 
to  a  neighbouring  cottage,  plucked  some  thatch,  which 
he  presented  to  his  general,  as  giving  him  seisin  of 
the  kingdom '4,  The  confidence  of  William  and  his  fol- 
lowers was  now  so  great,  that  when  they  heard  even  of 
Harold's  victory  over  the  Danes,  instead  of  being  dis- 
couraged they  seemed  only  to  long,  with  more  impatience 
for  the  arrival  of  the  English  army. 

They  had  not  long  occasion  to  wait.  Harold  was  at 
York  when  he  received  intelligence  of  the  Norman  inva- 
sion, and  hastened  by  quick  marches  to  meet  his  compe- 
titor. But  on  reviewing  his  forces,  he  found  them  much 
diminished,  though  he  had  been  reinforced  with  fresh 
troops  from  London  and  other  places.  His  victory  proved 
his  ruin.  Many  of  his  bravest  officers,  and  veteran  soldiers 
fell  in  the  action;  some  retired  from  fatigue,  aiid  others 
secretly  withdrew  from  discontent,  because  he  had  refus- 
ed to  distribute  the  Danish  spoils  among  them:  a  conduct 
little  suited  to  his  usual  generosity  of  temper,  and  which 
can  only  be  accounted  for  from  a  desire  of  easing  his 
people  in  the  war  that  hung  over  them  from  Normandy, 
and  which  he  foresaw  must  be  attended  with  great 
expense. 

From  these  and  other  circumstances,  Gurth  the  king's 
brother,  a  man  of  bravery  and  conduct,  began  to  enter- 
tain apprehensions  of  the  event;  and  represented  to  the 
king,  That  it  would  be  better  policy  to  prolong  the  war 
than  to  risk  a  general  action,  as  the  winter  was  approach- 
ing, when  the  enemy  would  suffer  many  hardships,  while 
the  English,  better  sheltered,  and  becoming  every  day 
more  incensed  against  their  invaders,  would  hasten  from 
all  quarters  to  his  assistance,  and  render  his  army  invin- 

14.    Order.  Vital. 

cxble: 


172  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

cible;  or,  if  he  thought  it  necessary  to  hazard  a  battle, 
he  ought  at  least  not  to  expose  his  person,  that  some 
resource  might  still  be  left  for  the  liberty  and  indepen- 
dency of  the  kingdom.  But  Harold,  deaf  to  all  these 
arguments,  rejected  his  brother's  advice  with  disdain; 
and,  elated  with  past  prosperity,  as  v/ell  as  stimulated  by 
his  native  courage,  replied.  That  he  would  give  battle 
in  person,  and  convince  his  subjects,  that  he  was  worthy 
ot  the  crown  Avhich  they  had  set  upon  his  head*-''. 

With  this  resolution  he  drew  near  to  the  Normans, 
who  had  removed  their  camp  to  Hastings.  He  was  even  so 
confident  of  success,  that  he  sent  a  message  to  the  duke 
of  Normandy,  offering  him  a  sum  of  money,  if  he  would 
depart  the  kingdom  without  the  effusion  of  blood;  and 
William,  not  to  be  behind  him  in  vaunting,  commanded 
him  to  resign  the  crown  of  England,  to  submit  their  cause 
to  the  arbitration  of  the  pope,  or  to  fight  him  in  single 
combat.  Harold  replied,  that  the  God  of  battles  would 
soon  be  the  arbiter  of  all  their  differences'*^. 

Both  armies  now  impatiently  expected  the  awful  de- 
cision; but  night  drawing  on,  it  was  deferred  till  morn- 
ing. During  this  interval  of  darkness  and  suspense,  the 
scene  was  very  different  in  the  two  camps:  The  English 
spent  the  night  in  riot  and  feasting;  the  Normans,  in 
f^  prayer  and  preparations  for  battle.     As  soon 

as  day  began  to  appear,  the  duke  assembled 
his  principal  officers,  and  made  them  a  speech  suitable 
to  the  occasion.  He  next  divided  his  army  into  three 
lines.  The  first  consisted  of  archers  and  light-armed 
infantry;  the  second  was  composed  of  his  bravest  battal- 
lions,  heavy  armed,  and  ranged  in  close  order.  The 
cavalry,  at  the  head  of  which  William  placed  himself, 
formed  the  third  line,  and  were  so  disposed  that  they 
stretched  beyond  the  infantry,  and  flanked  each  wing  of 
the  army.  He  commanded  the  signal  to  be  given;  and  the 
whole  army  moved  at  once,   and,   singing  the  celebrated 

15.  Order.  Vital.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  iii.  16.   Higden. 

song 


fcxT.  XIX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  173 

song  of  Rowland,  the  fabulous  nephew,  but  renowned 
captain  of  Charlemagne,   advanced  in  order  of  battle'''. 

Harold,  whose  army  was  inferior  to  William's,  in  num- 
ber as  well  as  in  discipline,  had  seized  the  advantage  of  a 
rising  ground;  and  having  drawn  some  trenches  to  secure 
his  flanks,  seemed  inclined  to  act  upon  the  defensive,  and  to 
avoid  all  encounter  with  the  Norman  cavalry,  to  which  his 
strength  in  horse  was  very  unequal.  The  Kentish  men  were 
placed  in  the  front,  a  post  which  they  had  always  claimed  as 
their  due:  the  Londoners  guarded  the  standard;  and  the 
king,  dismounting,  placed  himself  in  the  centre,  at  the 
head  of  his  infantry  expressing  his  resolution  to  conquer 
or  die.  The  first  attack  of  the  Norman  foot  was  terrible: 
their  archers  sorely  galled  their  adversaries;  and,  as  the 
English  ranks  were  close,  the  arrows  did  great  execution. 
But  Harold's  army  received  the  shock  of  the  enemy  un- 
dismayed; and  after  a  furious  struggle,  which  long  remain- 
ed undecided,  the  Normans  began  to  give  ground.  Con- 
fusion was  spreading  from  rank  to  rank ;  when  William, 
who  found  himself  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  hastened  with  a 
select  band  to  the  relief  of  his  broken  forces.  His  presence 
restored  the  battle.  The  English  were  obliged  to  retire 
in  their  turn;  but  the  duke  finding  they  still  made  a  vigor- 
ous resistance,  aided  by  the  advantage  of  ground,  and 
animated  by  the  example  of  their  valiant  prince,  ordered 
his  troops  to  make  a  hasty  retreat,  and  allure  their  anta- 
gonists from  their  station  by  the  appearance  of  flight.  The 
artifice  succeeded.  Impelled  by  the  enthusiasm  of  valour 
and  the  heat  of  action,  the  troops  of  Harold  precipitately- 
followed  the  Normans  into  the  plain:  while  William 
instructed  his  infantry  at  once  to  face  about  on  iheir  pur- 
suers, and  the  cavalry  to  make  an  assault  upon  their  wings. 
The  English  were  thrown  into  disorder,  and  driven  back 
with  loss  to  the  hill;  where  being  rallied  by  the  generalship 
of  Harold,  they  were  again  able  to  maintain  the  combat. 
William  tried  the  same  stratagem  a  second  tiine,  and  with 
equal  success.     Yet  he  still  found  a  large  body  of  English 

17.  Gul.  Malmcs.  lib.   iii.  Du  Gang,   in    Glos.  Verb.  Cant.  Roland. 

forces 


tr*  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

forces  that  remained  firm  around  their  prince,  and  seemed 
determined  to  dispute  the  field  to  the  last  man  ;  when 
fortune  decided  a  victor)'  which  valour  had  left  doubtful. 
Harold,  who  had  fought  with  unspeakable  courage  and 
personal  prowess  from  dawn  until  eve,  was  shot  into  the 
brains  with  an  arrow,  while  bravely  defending  the  royal 
standard  at  the  head  of  his  guards.  His  two  gallant 
brothers,  Gurth  and  Leofwin,  also  were  slain;  and  the 
Englisli  army,  dispirited  by  the  loss  of  its  leaders,  gave 
way  on  all  sides,  and  was  pursued  witli  great  slaughter 
by  the  victorious  Normans'". 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  was  gained  by  William  the 
Norman,  afterwards  surnamed  the  Conqueror,  the  fa- 
mous battle  of  Hastings,  which  terminated  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  monarchy  in  England ;  and  which,  by  the  heroic 
feats  of  valour  displayed  on  both  sides,  by  both  armies, 
and  both  commanders,  seemed  worthy  to  decide  the  fate 
of  a  mighty  kingdom.  Fifteen  thousand  of  the  Normans 
fell,  and  a  much  greater  number  of  the  English  forces'^.— 
But  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  other  nations  of  Europe, 
and  also  throw  a  glance  on  those  of  Asia  and  Africa, 
before  I  consider  the  consequences  of  this  victory,  and  the 
influence  of  the  revolution  by  which  it  was  followed,  upon 
the  laws,  government,  and  manners  of  England.  In  the 
meantime,  however,  it  will  not  be  improper  to  take  a 
slight  survey  of  the  state  of  England  at  the  Norman 
conquest. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


NO  territory  of  so  small  an  extent  has  ever  so  much 
engaged  the  attention  of  mankind,  for  so  long  a  series  of 
ages,  as  the  island  of  Britain.  From  the  most  remote 
antiquity  it  was  visited  by  the  Phoenicians  and  Carthagi- 
nians, on  account  of  its  tin  and  other  valuable  productions. 

15.  Gul.  Malmes.  ubi  sup.       Gul.  Pict.  H.  Hunting.  R.  Hoveden.  M. 
Faris.  Order.  Vital.  19.  Gul.  Gemet.  chap,  xxxvi. 

The 


jkar.  XIX.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  175 

The  Romans,  in  the  height  of  their  power,  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  southern  part  of  it,  at  a  vast  ex- 
pense of  blood  and  treasure ;  and  they  thought  the  acqui- 
sition of  sufficient  importance  to  preserve  their  footing 
in  this  distant  and  transmarine  province  for  three  hundred 
years,  by  maintaining  in  it  a  great  naval  and  military  force. 
The  ancient  Britons  lost  their  courage  and  their  inde- 
pendent spirit  under  the  Roman  dominion,  but  received 
from  their  enlightened  governors  some  knowledge  of  arts 
and  letters^°.  The  Saxons,  in  achieving  their  sanguinary 
conquest,  destroyed  every  trace  of  ingenuity  which  the 
Romans  had  introduced  into  the  island,  without  bringing 
along  with  them  one  peaceful  art  with  Avhich  the  Britons 
were  not  better  acquainted :  and  the  inveterate  wars  be- 
tween the  princes  of  the  Heptarchy  afterwards  obstruct- 
ed, among  their  people,  the  usual  progress  of  civili- 
zation. But  no  sooner  was  England  united  into  one 
kingdom  under  Egbert,  than  commerce  and  manufactures 
began  to  be  cultivated  in  a  country  so  highly  favoured  by 
nature ;  abounding  in  the  materials  of  industry,  and 
surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the  sea,  which  forms  on 
.its  coasts  many  commodious  bays  and  safe  harbours^^. 

The  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
however,  was  cruelly  injured  by  the  piracy  and  preda- 
tory invasions  of  the  Danes  ;  yet  did  England,  under 
their  government,  contain  many  large  trading  towns, 
and  a  greater  number  of  inhabitants,  both  in  the  towns, 

20.  If  the  Britons  had  any  knowledge  of  letters  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Romans,  that  knowledge  was  confined  chiefly  if  not  solely  to  their 
priests,  the  mysterious  Druids. 

21.  The  principal  English  exports,  during  the  Anglo-Saxon  times* 
were  tin,  lead,  wool,  hides,  horses,  and  y/a««/—— These  slaves  consisted 
Hot  solely  of  sach  unhappy  persons  as  the  laws  of  war,  or  other  causes  had 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  perpetual  servitude.  The  Anglo-Saxons  wer« 
iiccused  by  cotemporary  writers,  of  making  merchandise  even  of  their 
nearest  relations ;  '*  a  custom,"  adds  a  respectable  historian  who  lived 
•fter  the  Norman  conquest,  "  which  prevails  in  Northumberland,  even  in 
"  our  own  days."  Gill.  Mairaes.  lib.  i. 

and 


176  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

and  in  the  country  than  could  have  been  er\:pected  in 
such  a  turbulent  and  hostile  period.  London,  York, 
Bristol",  Exeter,  and  Norwich,  were  great  and  popu- 
lous cities ;  and  as  the  labours  of  husbandry  were 
chiefly  performed  by  slaves  or  villains,  who  were  ex- 
cluded from  militar)'-  service,  the  number  of  freemen  in 
England,  habituated  to  the  use  of  arfns,  if  not  greater, 
must  have  been  as  great  at  the  Norman  invasion,  as  in 
any  former  or  subsequent  period^^    But  let  us  not  hence 

conclude, 

22.  The  Bistol  traders  were  distinguished,  even  in  those  early  ages, 
by  their  mercantile  sagacity.  "  The  people  of  this  town,"  says  an  auiho»" 
of  undoubted  veracity,  "  were  cured  of  a  most  odious  and  inveterate  cus- 
♦•  tom  by  Wulfstan,  (bishop  of  Winchester  at  the  Norman  conquest)  of 
"  buyirg  men  and  nvonicH  in  all  parts  of  England,  and  exportivg  them  for 
"  the  sake  of  gain.  The  young  ixomen  they  commonlv  got  with  child,  and 
"  carried  them  to  market  in  their  pregnancy,  that  they  might  bring  a  better 
**  price!"  Anglia  Sacra,  tom.  ii. 

23.  To  that  exemption  from  rustic  labour,  which  was  friendly  to  the 
use  of  arms,  may  also  perhaps  be  ascribed  the  dissolute  manners  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons.  Unless  when  employed  in  war  or  hunting,  their  whole 
time  was  sjient  in  drinking  and  feasting.  This  licentious  life  seems  to  have 
much  impaired  the  native  courage  of  the  English  nation,  before  the  Da- 
nish conquest.  The  wars  which  introduced  and  accompanied  that  conquest, 
revived  their  martial  spirit :  and  under  the  Danish  princes,  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  appear  to  have  emulated  their  conquerors  all  in  acts  of  prowess 
and  valour.  But  both  were  alike  given  to  long  and  excessive  drinking,  in 
large  societies  or  clubs :  and  the  Danes  added  to  this  convivial  intern, 
perance  an  inordinate  passion  for  women;  in  which  they  seem  to  liave 
gloried,  and  often  gratified  in  a  manner  shocking  to  humanity.  Violence 
in  love,  was  with  them  as  common  as  in  war.  Yet  they  sometimes 
made  use  of  other  means  to  accomplish  their  purpose:  they  affected  gal- 
lantry ;  and,  by  their  attention  to  dress  and  cleanliness,  are  said  to  have 
seduced  many  English  wives.  That  cleanliness,  however,  by  which  they 
were  distinguished,  consisted  only  in  combing  their  hair  once  a  day, 
and  washing  themselves  once  a  week.  Wallingford,  ap.  Gale,  tom.  i. 
Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.   dnglia  Sacra,  tom.  ii. 

The  manners  of  the  Welsh,  in  this  dark  period,  must  have  been  even 
less  delicate  than  those  of  the  Anglo-Saxons:  for  they  thought  it  neces- 
sary, we  find,  to  make  a  law,  That  none  of  the  courtiers  should  ^/w  the 
,  qveen 


LTE.  xix.l  MODERN  EUROPE  177 

conclude,  that  sixty  thousand  men,  under  an  experi- 
enced leader,  have  at  all  times  been  sufficient  to  over- 
turn the  constitution  of  this  vigorous  kingdom.  William 
was  ultimately  indebted  for  his  good  fortune,  less  to  the 
rashness  of  the  English  monarch,  his  own  conduct,  or 
the  valour  of  his  troops,  than  to  the  unsettled  state  of 
the  succession  to  the  crown.  Harold  had  owed  his  ex- 
altation to  the  throne,  as  much  to  fear  as  affection  ;  and, 
on  his  death,  the  English  nobility,  who  had  borne  with 
impatience  the  sway  of  an  equal,  naturally  looked  up  to 
his  conqueror  and  competitor,  the  kinsman  of  their  an- 
cient princes,  as  their  sovereign,  their  head,  and  centre 
of  union.  The  duke  of  Normandy,  at  Hastings,  had 
triumphed  over  their  elected  king,  but  not  over  their 
liberties.  These  they  imprudently  put  into  his  hands 
(as  we  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  see)  in  hopes 
that  he  would  not  abuse  their  generosity,  when  resis- 
tance, and  even  vengeance,  was  in  their  power. 

gueen  a  i>l(nu,  or  snatch  any  thing  violently  out  of  her  hands,  under  p&nalty 
Qii forfeiting  her  majesty's  protection.  (Leg.  Wallicae,  p.  11.)  And  if  any 
woman  brought  an  action  for  a  rape,  which  was  denied  by  the  man,  she 
was  ordered  to  take  hold  of  the  culprit  by  the  offending  part,  with  her 
left  hand,  and  to  lay  the  right  on  the  holy  reliques  ;  and  -n  that  position, 
to  make  oath  of  the  violation  of  her  person — quod  is  per  vim  se  isto  mem- 
iro  vitia  verit.       Ibid.  p.  80. 


LETTER 


VOL,  I.  EC 


178  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 


LETTER  XX. 


PA  rN,THK  ARABS  AND  THE  EMPIRE  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE,  DUR- 
ING THE  NINTH,  TENTH,  AND  'ART  OF  THE  ELEVENTH 
CENTURY. 


SPAIN. 

JL  HE  death  of  Abdurrahman,  the  Moorish 
king,  whom  we  have  seen  reign  with  so  much  kistre  at 
Cordova,  was  followed  by  dissensions  among  his  chil- 
dren, which  procured  some  relief  to  the  Spa- 
nish Christians.  The  little  kingdom  of  the 
Asturias,  or  of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  as  it  was  afterwards 
called,  founded  by  Pelagius,  increased  under  Alphonso 
III.  surnamed  the  Great,  on  account  of  his  wisdom  and 
valour.  Garcias  Ximenes,  descended  from  the  ancient 
Spaniards,  had  also  founded,  in  758,  the  kingdom  of 
Navarre,  which  became  one  of  the  most  considerable 
Christian  principalities  in  Spain. 

The  Moors  however,  still  possessed  Portugal,  Mur- 
cia,  Andalusia,  Valentia,  Granada,  Tortosa,  and  the 
interior  part  of  the  country  as  far  as  the  mountains  of 
Castile,  and  Saragossa  ;  more  than  three-fourths  of  Spain, 
and  the  most  fertile  provinces.  Among  them,  as  in 
the  other  nations  of  Europe,  a  crowd  of  too  powerful 
nobles  affected  independency,  and  the  sovereign  was  ob- 
liged to  contend  with  his  subjects  for  dominion.  This 
was  the  time  to  have  crushed  the  Mahometan  power  ; 
but  the  Spanish  Christians  were  not  more  united  than 
their  enemies.  Though  continually  at  war  with  the 
Moors,  they  were  always  destroying  each  other.  The 
reign  of  Alphonso  the  Great  was  full  of  conspiracies  and 
revolts  :  his  own  wife  and  his  two  sons  were 
*  among  the  number  of  the  rebels.  He  resigned 
his  crown  to  Garcias   the    eldest :  he   even  generously 

fought 


LET.  XX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  itg 

fought  under  his  command  ;   and  died  in  912,   with  the 
glory  of  a  hero,  and  the  piety  of  a  saint'. 

Ramiro  II.  king  of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  another  Span- 
ish hero,  gained,  938,  the  celebrated  victory 
of  Simancas,  where  the  Moors  are  said  to  *  *  ' 
have  lost  fourscore  thousand  men.  He  had  promised 
to  St.  James,  in  a  pilgrimage  to  Compostella,  that  if 
he  was  victorious,  all  his  subjects  should  offer  annually 
a  certain  measure  of  wheat  to  the  church  of  that  saint. 
The  church  was  enriched,  and  the  name  of  St.  James 
became  the  alarm  to  battle  among  the  Spaniards. 

Men  are  chiefly  indebted  for  all  their  heroic  achieve- 
ments to  their  passions  ;  hence  nothing  is  so  irresis- 
tible as  the  valour  inspired  by  enthusiasm,  while  it 
lasts.  The  name  of  St.  James  was  long  terrible  to  the 
Moors,  and  long  the  companion  of  victory.  Mahomet 
Almanzor,  however,  the  celebrated  general,  and  prime 
minister  of  Hissem  king  of  Cordova,  found  means,  by 
another  artifice,  to  turn  the  tide  of  success.  Seeing 
his  troops  began  to  fly,  in  a  battle  fought  on  the  banks 

of  the  river  Ezla,  he  dismounted  from  his 

.  .  A.   D.  095, 

horse;  sat  down  in  the  field  ;  threw  his  tur- 
ban on  the  ground  ;  and  laying  his  arms  across  his 
breast,  declared  he  would  in  that  posture  meet  his  fate, 
since  he  was  abandoned  by  his  army.  This  stratagem 
had  the  desired  effect  :  his  troops  returned  to  the 
charge,  and  obtained  a  complete  victory.  The  ?*Ioors 
became  sensible  that  they  could  conquer  in  spite  of  St, 
James  ;  and  the  Christians  in  their  turn,  trembled  at 
the  name  of  Almanzor. 

That  great  man,  who  was  no  less  a  politician  than 
a  warrior,  is  said  to  have  vanquished  the  Christian 
princes  in  fifty  engagements.  He  took  the  city  of  Leon 
by  assault ;  sacked  Compostella  ;  pillaged  the  church 
of  St.  James,  and  carried  the  gates  in  triumph,  on  the 
shoulders  of  his  army,  to  Cordova.     This  triumph  pro- 

t .    Fcrreras.  \f ariana. 

ved 


180  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

ved  his  ruin.      A  flux  breaking  out  among  his  troops, 
the  Christians   considered  that  distemper  as  a  punish- 
ment inflicted  by  St.   Tames  :  the  flame  of 

A.  D.  998.         ,      .  ,  •     1,    1  1    Ai 

enthusiasm  rekindled,  and  Almanzor  was 

defeated.  But  what  was  infinitely  more  advantageous 
to  the  Christians,  as  well  as  more  fatal  to  himself,  he 
was  so  much  ashamed  of  his  misfortune,  that  he  would 
neither  eat  nor  drink,  and  obstinately  perished  of 
hunger^ 

About  the  begining  of  the  eleventh  century,  the 
race  of  Abdurrahman  being  extinct,  the  kingdom  of 
Cordova  was  dismembered,  by  the  ambition  of  a  num- 
ber of  noblemen,  who  all  usurped  the  title  of  king. 
Toledo,  Valentia,  Seville,  Saragossa,  and  almost  all 
the  great  cities,  had  their  independent  sovereigns. 
The  provinces  were  changed  into  kingdoms,  which 
multiplied  in  the  same  manner  among  the  Christians  ; 
who  had  a  king  of  Leon,  of  Navarre,  of  Castile,  of  Ar- 
ragon  :  and  Sancho,  surnamed  the   Great,  king  of  Na- 

,     varre,  was   so   imprudent  as   to   subdivide 
A.  D.  1034.   ,  .       '     .    .  ^  ,  •     <•  T, 

his  dominions  amongst  his  tour  sons,    jrer- 

petual  jealousies,  with  all  the  crimes  that  accompany 
them,  were  the  consequence  of  these  divisions  of  ter- 
ritory :  treachery,  poisonings,  assassinations  !  the  com- 
mon weapons  of  petty  neighbouring  and  rival  princes, 
who  have  much  ambition  and  small  means  of  gratify- 
ing it.  Hence  the  history  of  Spain  becomes  always 
less  important,  in  proportion  to  the  Increase  of  the 
kingdoms.  One  circumstance,  however,  merits  ■'Our 
attention,  both  on  account  of  its  nature  and  its  singu- 
larity. 

In  this  dark  and  oppressive  period,  when  the  com- 
monalty all  over  Europe  were  either  degraded  to  a 
state  of  actual  slavery,  or  in  a  condition  little  more  to 
he  envied,  the  people  of  Arragon  shared  the  govern- 
ment with   their   sovereign.      The    representatives    of 

2.    Rod.  Tolet  de  Etb.  Hisp.  Amal.  Compoitd. 

cities 


LET.  XX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  151 

cities  and  towns  had  a  place  in  their  Cortes,  or  nation- 
al assembly.  But  the  Arragonians,  not  satisfied  with 
this  check  on  the  royal  prerogative,  nor  willing  to  trust 
the  preservation  of  their  liberties  solely  to  their  repre- 
sentatives, elected  a  Justiza,  or  grand  judge,  who  was 
the  supreme  interpreter  of  the  laws,  and  whose  parti- 
cular business  it  was  to  restrain  the  encroachments  of 
the  crown,  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  subject.  He 
was  chosen  from  among  the  cavelleros,  or  second  order 
in  the  state,  answering  to  our  gentlemen  commoners, 
that  he  might  be  equally  interested  in  curbing  the 
oppressive  spirit  of  the  nobles,  and  setting  bounds  to 
the  ambition  of  the  prince.  His  person  was  sacred, 
and  his  jurisdiction  almost  unbounded  :  his  power  was 
exerted  in  superintending  the  administration  of  govern- 
ment, no  less  than  in  regulating  the  course  of  justice. 
He  had  a  right  to  review  all  the  royal  proclamations 
and  patents,  and  to  declare  whether  they  were  agreea- 
ble to  law,  and  ought  to  be  carried  into  execution  : — 
and  he  covdd  by  his  sole  authority,  exclude  any  of  the 
king's  ministers  from  the  management  of  affairs,  and 
call  them  to  answer  for  their  conduct  while  in  office. 
He   himself  was  answerable  to  the  Cortes  alone. 

The  justiza  had  also  the  singular  privilege  of  receiv- 
ing the  coronation  oath,  in  the  name  of  the  people  ; 
when,  holding  a  naked  sword  opposite  to  the  king's 
heart,  he  repeated  these  remarkable  words,  "  We,  who 
"  are  your  equals,  make  you  our  sovereign,  and  pro- 
*'  mise  obedience  to  your  government,  on  condition  that 
*'  you  maintain  our  rights  and  liberties  ;  if  not — not  1" 
And  it  was  accordingly  an  established  maxim  in  the  con- 
stitution of  Arragon,  that  if  the  king  should  violate  his 
engagements,  it  was  lawful  for  the  people  to  depose  him, 
and  to  elect  another  in  his  stead-'i. 

3.    Zurit.    Annal.  de  Arag.    Hier.  B'anca.  Comment,  dc  Rer.  Ara». 

THE 


182  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  THE  ARABS. 

FROM  the  Arabs  in  Spain,  we  pass  naturally  to 
those  of  Asia,  and  the  neighbouring  continent  of  Africa. 
'I'he  great  empire  of  the  Arabs,  as  well  as  its  branches, 
had  experienced  those  revolutions,  which  war  and  dis- 
cord naturally  produce,  and  which  sooner  or  later  over- 
turn the  best  founded  governments.  The  glory  of  the 
califat  was  obscured  toward  the  end  of  the  ninth  century. 
Under  weak  or  wicked  princes,  the  African  governors 
shook  off  their  allegiance.  Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli, 
formed  particular  states.  Religious  quarrels  augmented 
those  of  ambition.  The  Fattimides,  a  Mahometan  sect, 
flamed  with  all  the  fury  of  fanaticism.  They 
*  founded  an  empire  in  Egypt,  from  which  they 
expelled  the  race  of  Abbas  ;  and  Cairo,  the  capital  of 
that  empire,  became  the  seat  of  a  new  calif,  and  a  flou- 
rishing city  of  commerce. 

Another  fanatical  sect,  persuaded  that  the  abuses  in- 
troduced into  the  religion  of  Mahomet  required  refor- 
mation, delivered  themselves  up  to  the  transports  of  en^ 
thusiasm,  and  acquired  strength  by  being  persecuted. 
They  revolted,  obtained  several  victories,  and  seized 
the  provinces  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  which  form 
the  present  kingdom  of  Morocco  ;  where  their  chief,  like 
the  other  califs,  uniting  the  royalty  with  the  priesthood, 
governed  his  new  empire  under  the  name  of  Miramoulin, 
or  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  a  title  implying  his  claim 
to  the  califat. 

Other  circumstances  conspired  to  dismember  the  em- 
pire of  the  Arabs.  The  califs  of  Bagdat  had  received 
into  their  armies  a  body  of  Turks,  or  Turcomans,  a 
Tartar  tribe.  These  auxiliaries,  on  account  of  their  va- 
lour, were  soon  employed  as  the  royal  guard,   and  sub- 


y 


:ted 


LET.  XX.]  .        MODERN  EUROPE.  182 

jected  those  whom  they  were  hired  to  protect.  They 
took  advantage  of  the  civil  wars  raised  against  the  cali- 
fat,  to  make  themselves  lords  of  Asia :  they  stript  the 
califs,  by  degrees  of  the  sovereignty,  but  permitted  them 
to  retain  the  pontificate,  which  they  revered  ;  prudently 
submitting  themselves  to  the  religion  of  the  country,  and 
kneeling  to  the  priest  while  they  despoiled  the  king''^. 

A  variety  of  sovereigns  sprung  up  under  the  name  of 
Sultans,  who  were  invested  with  their  dominions  by  the 
califs,  but  took  care  to  leave  them  very  little  authority  ; 
so  that  the  successors  of  Mahomet  found  therr.selves, 
towards  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  in  much  the 
same  situation  with  those  of  St.  Peter  under  the  first 
German  emperors  ;  or  with  the  kings  of  Europe  about 
the  same  time,  whose  power  declined  in  proportion  to 
the  increase  of  their  vassals. 

THE  EMPIRE  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE 

WHILE  the  empire  of  the  Arabs  was  thus  overturn- 
ed, and  that  of  Charlemagne  falling  to  pieces,  the  em- 
p'lm  of  Constantinople,  to  borrow  a  simile  from  Voltaire, 
st^  stood  like  a  large  tree,  vigorous  though  old,  stript 
of  its  branches,  some  of  its  roots,  and  buflTeted  on  every 
side  by  storms  and  tempests.  Though  much  circum- 
scribed on  the  eastern  frontier,  it  yet  extended  over  all 
Greece,  Macedonia,  Epirus,  Thessaly,  Thrace,  Illyri- 
cum  :  it  was  contracted  indeed,  but  not  dismembered  ; 
often  changing  its  emperors,  but  always  united  under 
the  person  who  swayed  the  sceptre.  How  unworthy,  in 
general,  of  the  imperial  dignity  !  and  what  a  people  had 
they  to  govern  ! 

Nicephorus,  whom  we  have  seen  dethrone  Irene,  was 
an  execrable  tyrant.     The  Saracens  robbed  him  of  the 
isle    of   Cyprus  ;    and    the    Bulgarians,  the 
scourge  of  Thrace,  took  him  prisoner,  after      *      * 

4.  Leunclav.  Annal.  Turcici.  Georg.    Elmacin.  Ilislor.  Saraceniea. 

having 


184  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

having  cut  off  his  army,  beheaded  him,  and  threw  his 
body  to  the  beasts  of  the  field,  while  they  made  a  drink- 
ing-cup  of  his  skulls 

StauracLis,  the  son  of  Nicephorus,  rendered  himself 
so  odious  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  that  he  was  aban- 
doned by  his  people,  and  obliged  to  become  a  monk. 

Michael  Rangabus  refused  to  make  peace  with  the 
Bulgarians,  because  a  monk  declared,  that  he  could  not 
in  conscience,  deliver  up  the  deserters.  In  consequence 
of  this  refusal,  the  Greeks  were  defeated  by  the  Bulga- 
rians :  the  emperor  betook  himself  to  flight :  and  the 
officers,  incensed  at  his  behaviour,  proclaimed  Leo  the 
Armenian. 

Leo  attempted  to  assassinate  the  king  of  the  Bulga- 
rians ;  who,  in  revenge,  pillaged  the  suburbs  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  emperor  could  conceive  nothing  more 
effectual  to  save  the  state  than  the  extirpation  of  idola- 
try^ ;  that  is  to  say  the  abolition  of  images.  He  accord- 
ingly commanded  a  new  persecution  ;  and  eight  hundred 
and  twenty  persons  were  massacred  in  one  church. 

Michael  the   Stammerer,  the  successor  of  Leo,  at 

first  tolerated  the  worship  of  images  :  but  he  afterwards 

changed  his  system  :   he  persecuted  those  whom  he  hacl 

formerly  protected,  and  would  even  have  had  the  sabbath 

observed,  and  the  passover  celebrated  in  the  manner  of 

the  Jews.     The  Saracens  took  advantage  of  his  weak- 

„^    ness  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the  isle 
A.   D.  823. 

of  Crete,  now  Candia :  they  also  conquered 

almost  all  Sicily,  and  ravaged  Apulia  and  Calabria°. 

During  the  reign  of  Theophilus,  though  more  wor- 
thy of  the  imperial  throne,  the  persecution  was  redoub- 
led, and  the  Saracens  extended  their  conquests.  But 
after  his  death,  the  empress  Theodora,  governing  during 
the  miniority  of  Michael  III.  re-established  the  worship 
of  images,  as  Irene  had  formerly  done.  Afterward, 
desirous  to  convert  the  Manicheans  by  terror,  she  caus- 

5.     Theophan.       6.  Cerden. 

ed 


LET.  XX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  185 

cd  them  to  be  destroyed  in  thousands.       Those  who 

escaped  went  over  to  the   Bulgarians,  and  the   empire 

was  obliged  to  contend  with  its  own  subjects.      P*Iichael 

confined  Theodora  in  a  convent,  and  delivering  himself 

up  to  all  manner  of  crimes,  carried  his  impiety   so  far, 

as  to  spoi-t  with  the  ecclesiastical  ceremonies.      He  was 

assassinated  by  Basil,  whom  he  had  associa-  „„^ 

,   .       ,  .  ,   .  ,       ,  ,  ,    A.  D.  8b7. 

ted  m  the  empire,   and  imprudently  would 

have  deposed. 

,  Basil,  originally  a  beggar,  now  found  himself  em- 
peror. He  is  celebrated  for  his  justice  and  humanity; 
but  he  was  a  dupe  to  the  patriarch,  Photius,  whom  he 
favoured  with  his  confidence,  even  after  he  had  exiled 
him.  His  reign  is  the  aera  of  the  grand  schism,  v/hich 
forever  divided  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches. 

This  schism,  which  took  its  rise  from  a  jealousy 
between  the  primates  of  the  East  and  West  v^as  brought 
to  a  crisis  by  the  conversion  of  the  Bulgarians.  As 
Bulgaria  had  formerl\^  belonged  to  the  Eastern  empire, 
it  was  disputed,  whether  the  new  Christians  ought  to  be 
subject  to  the  pope,  or  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople. 
A  variety  of  other  reasons  was  assigned  for  the  squab- 
ble that  followed;  but  this  is  the  true  one,  and  the  only 
one  which  it  is  necessary  for  you  to  know.  The  council 
of  Constantinople   ga.ve  jvidgment    in  favour  ^„ 

of  the  patriarch;  but  the  pope's  legates  protest-  "' 
ed  against  the  decision.       Nev/  circumstances  widened" 
the  breach.     The  two  primates  excommunicated   each 
other;  and  although  the  quarrel  was  sometimes  mode- 
rated by  the  mediation  of  the  emperors,   it  was  never 
made  up.     The  schism  continued. 

The  Saracens  took  Syracuse,  while  Basil  was  era- 
ployed  in  founding  a  church;  and  his  son  Leo  composed 
sermons,  while  the  empire  was  ravaged  on  all  sides. 
Leo,  however,  is  styled  the  Philosopher;  because  he 
loved  learning,  and  favoured  learned  men,  not  from 
being  an  Alfred  or  a  Marcus  Aurelius. 

Constantine  Porphyrogenitus,  the  son  and  successor 
of  Leo,  merits  the  eulogies  bestowed  oa  him,   as  a  nro- 
VOL.     1,  F  f 


186  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

tector  of  the  sciences,  which  he  himself  cultivated  with 

^^^    success.      Men  of  the   first  rank   tauorht  phil- 
A«  D.  912.  .  . 

osophy,  geometry,  and  rhetoric,  at   Constanti- 
nople, during  his  reign,  which  commenced  in 
912  and  ended  in  959.     But  the  affairs  of  the 
empire  were  not  conducted  better  than  formerly. 

They  were  still  worse  conducted  under  Romanus,  the 
son  of  Constantine,  who  poisoned  his  father,  and  was  the 
tyrant  of  his  people. 

Nicephorus  Phocas  had  the  honour  of  vanquishing 
the  Saracens,  and  of  recovering  from  them  Crete,  An- 

^^,    tioch,  and  other  places.       His  avarice  and  t\'- 
A.  D.  961.  '  1     ,  •       ,  ,     ,  . 

ranny,  however,  made  him  detested;   his  own 

wife  joined  in  a  conspiracy  against  him;  and  he  was  mur- 
dered in  bed. 

John  Zimisces,  one  of  the  assassins,  seized  the  empire 

^^^    and  delivered  it  from  the  Rossi,  or  Russians, 
\.  D.  969.  . 

whom    he   defeated   in  several  engagements. 

This  brave  prince  was  poisoned  by  the  eunuch  Basil,  his 
chamberlain;  who  notwithstanding,  preserved 
his  credit  under   Basil  II.  grandson  of  Con- 
stantine Porphyrogenitus. 

Basil  was  a  warrior,  but  a  barbarous  one.  Havihg 
vanquished  the  Bulgarians,  he  caused  the  eyes  of  five 
thousand  prisoners  to  be  put  out.  His  subjects,  loaded 
with  taxes,  could  not  enjoy  his  triumphs.  He  fought  for 
himself,  not  for  them.  His  death  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  train  of  the  blackest  crimes  of 
which  we  have  any  example  in  history. 

The  princess  Zoe,  daughter  of  Constantine,  the  bro- 
ther and  colleague  of  Basil,  had  espoused  Romanus  Argy- 
ropulus,  who  was  proclaimed  emperor.    Zoe, 
afterwards  becameenamoured of  Michael  Pa- 
phlagonotus,  a  man  of  low  birth:  she  poisoned  her  hus- 
band, in  order  to  give  the  throne  to   her  lover;  but  the 
poison  not  operating  quick  enough,  she  caused  Argyro- 
pulus  to  be  drowned  in  a  bath.     The  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople 


lET.  XX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  187 

stantlnople   at  first  scrupled   to  marry   the    empress  to 

Michael.      But  a  sum  of  money  quieted  his  ^^-,. 

...  •   1  r  1,  ,  A.  D.  1034. 

conscience,  and  the  imperial  crown  iollowed 

the  sanction  of  the  church. 

The  emperor  Paphlagonotus,  a  prey  to  diseases  and 

remorse,  died  in  the  habit  of  a  monk  :   and 

rw  ,  .  ,      ,  1  ,  T^/r-         A.   D.   1041. 

Zoe  gave  the  empire  and  her  hand  to  Mi- 
chael Calaphates,  the  son  of  a  caulker,  or  cobler  of 
ships,  by  a  sister  of  the  other  Michael,  hopihg  that  he 
would  be  the  slave  of  her  will.  But  the  new  emperor, 
jealous  of  his  power,  put  her  in  confinement.  The  peo- 
ple revolted :  they  released  the  empress  and  her  sister 
Theodora,  and  put  out  the  eyes  of  Calaphates. 

The  two  sisters  reigned  together  a  year,  and  em- 
ployed themselves  only  about  trifles.  The  in4.o 
people  would  have  a  prince;  and  Zoe,  at  last, 
married  Constantine  Monomachus,  one  of  her  ancient 
lovers,  who  was  crowned.  This  upstart  emperor  neglect- 
ed his  wife  for  a  young  mistress.  The  Greeks  incensed 
at  his  conduct,  seized  him  in  a  procession,  and  declared 
they  would  only  obey  two  empresses.  He  would  have 
been  cut   in  pieces,  if  the  princesses  had  not  interposed. 

Monomachus  augmented  the  miseries  of  the  empire 
by  his  rapacity.  The  frontier  provinces  had  been  ex- 
empted from  taxes,  on  condition  that  they  should  defend 
themselves  against  the  barbarians.  The  emperor  pre- 
tended that  he  would  defend  them,  and  made  them  pay 
like  the  rest  of  the  empire":  but  they  were  poorly  defend- 
ed, notwithstanding  the  taxes. 

These  particulars  will  be  sufficient  to  enable  you  to 
judge  of  the  state  of  Constantinople.  If  at  any  time  we 
find  an  able  and  warlike  prince  there,  we  always  find  the 
same  reigning  spirit  of  superstition  and  rebellion.  Isaac 
Comnenus,  one  of  the  best  Greek  emperors,  proclaimed 
in  1057,   made  himself  hated  by  the  monks,  because  he 

7.    Ibid.  See  also  Curpolatus  and   Leo  Grammaticus. 

applied 


188  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

applied  to  the  public  exigencies  the  superflux  of  their 

.^..^    wealth.     Lamed  b*/-  a  fall  from  his  horse,  he 
A   D.  1059.  .  , 

'  gave  himself  up  to   devotion  :   resigned  his 

crown  in  favour  of  Constantine  Ducas,  and  took  the  habit 

of  a  monk. 

Ducas,  too  much  a  friend  to  peace,  abandoned  the 
provinces  to  the  ravages  of  the  Turks.  He  made  his 
three  sons  emperors,  and  left  the  regency  to  their  mother 
Eudoxia,  exacting  from  her  a  promise  that  she  would 
never  marry:  and  this  promise  he  obliged  her  to  confirm 
in  writing.  Eudoxia,  however,  soon  resolved  to  marry 
Romanus  Diogenes,  whom  she  had  condemned  to  die, 
but  whose  fine  person  subdued  her  heart.  Her  promise, 
deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  patriarch,  now  gave  her 
much  uneasiness.  In  order  to  recover  it,  she  artfully 
pretended  to  have  fixed  her  choice  on  the  patriarch's 
kinsman.  This  amorous  deceit  had  the  desired  effect. 
The  writing  was  restored;  and  the  empress, 
absolved  from  her  promise  of  widowhood, 
did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  her  release.  She 
immediately  married  Romanus,  and  procured  him  the 
empire". 

Could  ignorant  savages  have  acted  more  absurdly  ? 
or  ruffians  amenable  to  public  justice  more  atrociously  ? 
— Yet  the  Greeks  v/ere  still  the  most  learned  and  polish- 
ed people  in  Europe  ;  and  Constantinople,  notwithstand- 
ing all  its  misfortunes,  its  revolutions,  and  crimes,  hav- 
ing never  felt  the  destructive  rage  of  the  barbarians, 
continued  to  be  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  European 
city,  after  the  fall  of  Rome,  and  the  only  one  where  any 
image  of  ancient  manners  or  ingenuity  remained. 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  we  rapidly  traverse  the  wilds 
of  history  ;  where  the  objects  are  often  confused,  rude, 
and  uninteresting.  But  it  is  necessary  to  travel  these 
first  stages,  in  order  to  arrive  at  more  cultivated  fields. 

8.   Anna  Comnena.   Nicetas. 

We 


LET.  XXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  189 

We  shall  soon  meet  \nth  a  new  set  of  objects  equally 
interesting  and  important :  and  then  more  leisure  and 
attention  will  be  required.  In  the  mean  time  we  must 
take  a  review  of  past  ages. 


LETTER  XXI. 


PROGRESS  OF  SOCIRTY  IN  EUROPE,  FROM  THE  SETTTEMENT 
OF  THE  MODERN  NATIONS,  TO  TEE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  ELE- 
VENTH  CENTURY. 

JL  HAVE  already  given  you,  in  a  particular 
letter,  an  account  of  the  system  of  policy  and  legislation 
established  by  the  barbarians,  or  northern  invaders,  on 
their  first  settlement  in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire' :  and  I  have  endeavoured,  in  the  course  of  my 
general  narration,  to  mark  the  progress  of  society,  as  it 
regards  religion,  laws,  government,  manners,  and  litera- 
ture. But,  as  the  history  of  the  human  mind  is  of  infi- 
nitely more  importance  than  the  detail,  of  events,  this 
letter,  my  dear  Philip,  shall  be  entirely  devoted  to  such 
circumstances  as  tend  more  particularly  to  throw  light 
upon  that  subject.  I  shall  also  pursue  the  same  method, 
at  different  intervals,  during  the  subsequent  part  of  your 
historical  studies. 

Though  the  northern  invaders  wanted  taste  to  value 
the  Roman  arts,  laws,  or  literature,  they  generally  em- 
braced the  religion  of  the  conquered  people.  And  the 
mild  and  benevolent  spirit  of  Christianity  would  doubt- 
less have  softened  their  savage  manners,  had  not  their 
minds  been  already  infected  by  a  barbarous  superstition; 
which,  mingling  itself  with  the  Christian  principles  and 
ceremonies,  produced   that  absurd  mixture  of  violence, 

1.   I,etter   11. 

devotion, 


199  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

devotion,  and  folly,  which  has  so  long  disgraced  the 
Romish  church,  and  which  formed  the  character  of  the 
middle  ages.  The  clergy  were  gainers,  but  Christianity 
was  a  loser,  by  the  conversion  of  the  barbarians.  They 
rather  changed  the  object  than  the  spirit  of  their  religion. 
The  Druids  among  the  Gauls  and  Britons,  the 
Priests  among  the  ancient  Germans,  and  among  all  the 
nations  of  Scandinavia,  possessed  an  absolute  dominion 
over  the  minds  of  men.  These  people,  after  embracing 
Christianity,  retained  their  veneration  for  the  priesthood. 
And  unhappily  the  clergy  of  those  times  had  neither 
virtue  enough  to  preserve  them  from  abusing,  nor  know- 
ledge sufficient  to  enable  them  to  make  a  proper  use  of 
their  power.  They  blindly  favoured  the  superstitious 
homage  :  and  such  of  the  barbarians  as  entered  into  holy 
orders,  carried  their  ignorance  and  their  original  preju- 
dices along  with  them. 

The  Christian  emperors  of  Rome  and  Constantinople 
had  enriched  their  church  :  they  had  lavished  on  it  pri- 
vileges and  immunities  :  and  these  seducing  advantages 
had  but  too  much  contributed  to  a  relaxation  of  disci- 
pline and  the  introduction  of  disorders,  more  or  less 
hurtful,  which  had  altered  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Un- 
der the  dominion  of  the  barbarians  the  degeneracy  increas- 
ed, till  the  pure  principles  of  Christianity  were  lost  in 
a  gross  superstition  ;  which,  instead  of  aspiring  to  vir- 
tuous sanctity,  the  only  sacrifice  that  can  render  a  rational 
being  acceptable  to  the  great  Author  of  order  and  excel- 
lence, endeavoured  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  God  by 
the  same  means  that  satisfied  the  justice  of  men,  or  by 
those  employed  to  appease  their  fabulous  deities\ 

As  the  punishments  clue  for  civil  crimes,  among  the 
northern  conquerors,  might  be  bought  off  by  money,  they 
attempted,  in  like  manner,  to  bribe  Heaven,  by  benefac- 
tions to  the  church,  in  order  to  supersede  all  future 
inquest.      And  the    more    they  gave   themselves    up  to 


2.    Mosheim.   Hist.  Eccles.  vol.    i.   ii. 

their 


LF.T.  XXI.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  191 

their  brutal  passions,  to  rapine,  and  to  violence,  the  more 
profuse  they  were  in  this  species  of  good  works.  They 
seem  to  have  believed,  says  the  Abbe  de  Mably,  that 
avarice  was  the  first  attribute  of  the  divinity,  and  that 
the  saints  made  a  traffic  of  their  influence  and  protec- 
tion. Hence  the  bon  mot  of  Clovis  :  "  St.  Martin  serves 
"  his  friends  very  well ;  but  he  makes  them  pay  soundly 
*'  for  his  trouble  !" 

"  Our  treasure  is  poor,"  said  Chilperic,  the  grand- 
son of  Clovis  ;  "  our  riches  are  gone  to  the  church  :  the 
*'  bishops  are  the  kings  !" — And  indeed  the  superior 
clergy,  who,  by  the  acquisition  of  lands,  added  the 
power  of  fortune  to  the  influence  of  religion,  were  often 
the  arbiters  of  kingdoms,  and  disposed  of  the  crown 
while  they  regulated  the  affairs  of  the  state.  There  was 
a  necessity  of  consulting  them,  because  they  possessed 
all  the  knowledge  that  then  remained  in  Europe  :  they 
only  knew  any  thing.  The  acts  of  their  councils  were 
considered  as  infallible  decrees;  and  they  spoke  usually 
in  the  name  of  God  ;  but,  alas  !  they  were  only  men. 

As  the  interest  of  the  clergy  clashed  with  that  of  the 
laity,  opposition  and  jealousy  produced  new  disorders. 
The  priests  made  use  of  artifice  against  their  powerful 
adversaries  :  they  invented  fables  to  awe  them  into  sub- 
mission ;  they  employed  the  spiritual  arms  in  defence  of 
their  temporal  goods  ;  they  changed  the  mild  language 
of  charity  into  frightful  anathemas',  the  religion  of  Jesus 
breathed  nothing  but  terror.  To  the  thunder  of  the 
church,  the  instrument  of  so  many  wars  and  revolutions, 
they  joined  the  assistance  of  the  sword.  Warlike  pre- 
lates, clad  in  armour,  combated  for  their  possessions  or 
to  usurp  those  of  others  ;  and  like  the  heathen  priests, 
whose  pernicious  influence  was  founded  on  the  ignorance 
of  the  people,  the  Christian  clergy  sought  to  extend 
their  authority  by  confining  all  knowledge  to  their  own 
order.  They  made  a  mystery  of  the  most  necessary 
sciences  :  truth  was  not  permitted  to  see  the  light,  and 

reason 


192  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

reason  was  fettered  in  the  cell  of  superstition.  Many 
of  the  clergy  themselves  could  scarce  read,  and  writing 
was  chiefly  confined  to  the  cloisters^;  where  a  blind  and 
interested  devotion,  equally  willing  to  deceive  and  to 
believe,  held  the  quill;  and  where  lying  chronicles  and 
fabulous  legends  were  composed,  which  contaminated 
history,  religion,  and  the  principles  and  the  laws  of 
society. 

Without  arts,  sciences,  commerce,  policy,  principles, 
the  European  nations  were  all  as  barbarous  and  wretched 
as  they  could  possibly  be,  unless  a  miracle  had  been 
wrought  for  the  disgrace  of  humanity.  Charlemagne 
indeed  in  France,  and  Alfred  the  Great  in  England,  as 
you  have  had  occasion  to  see,  endeavoured  to  dispel  this 
darkness,  and  tame  their  subjects  to  the  restraints  of 
law  :  and  they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  succeed.  Light 
and  order  distinguished  their  reigns.  But  the  ignorance 
and  barbarism  of  the  age  were  too  powerful  for  their 
liberal  institutions  :  the  darkness  returned,  after  their 
time,  more  thick  and  heavy  than  formerly,  and  settled 
over  Europe,  and   society  again  tumbled  into  chaos. 

The  ignorance  of  the  West  was  so  profound  during 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  that  the  clergy,  who  alone 
possessed  the  important  secrets  of  reading  and  writing, 
became  necessarily  the  arbiters  and  the  judges  of  almost 
all  secular  affairs.  They  comprehended  within  their 
jurisdiction,  marriages,  contracts,  wills;  which  they  took 
care  to  involve  in  mystery,  and  by  which  they  opened  to 
themselves  new  sources  of  wealth  and  powcr'^.  Every 
thing  wore  the  colour  of  religion  ;  temporal  and  spiritual 
concerns  were  confounded  :  and  from  this  unnatural 
mixture  sprung  a  thousand  abuses.    The  history  of  those 

3.  Persons  who  could  not  write  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  in  place 
of  their  name,  in  confirmation  of  any  legal  deed.  (Dii  Cange,  Gloss, 
voc.  Crux.)     Hence   the  phrase  sigtiivg,  instead  of  subscribing  a  paper. 

4.    Du   Cange,  voc.  Curia    Ckristian.   Fleiiry.  Hist.  Hcc/es.   torn.  xix. 
Disc.  Pre/ int. 


ages 


lET.  XXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  19 

ages  forms  a  satire  on  the  human  soul ;  and  on  religion, 
if  we  should  impute  it  to  the  faults  of  its  ministers. 

*'  Redeem  your  souls  from  destruction,"  says  St. 
Egidius,  bishop  of  Noyon,  "  while  you  have  the  means 
*'  in  your  power :  ofifer  presents  and  tythes  to  churchmen; 
*'  come  more  frequently  to  church  ;  humbly  implore  the 
*'  patronage  of  the  saints;  for  if  you  observe  these  things, 
**  you  may  come  with  security  in  the  day  of  the  tribunal 
*'  of  the  eternal  Judge,  and  say,  Give  us  O  Lord,  for  we 
*'  have  given  unto  the^l 

In  several  churches  of  France  a  festival  was  celebra- 
ted in  commemoration  of  the  Virgin  Mary's  flight  into 
Egypt.  It  was  called  the  Feast  of  the  Ass.  A  young 
girl  richly  dressed,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  was 
upon  an  ass  superbly  caparisoned.  The  ass  was  led 
to  the  altar  in  solemn  procession.  High  mass  was 
said  with  great  pomp.  The  ass  was  taught  to  kneel  at 
proper  places  ;  a  hymn,  no  less  childish  than  impious, 
was  sung  in  his  praise  ;  and  when  the  ceremony  was 
ended,  the  priest,  instead  of  the  usual  words  with  which 
he  dismissed  the  people,  brayed  three  times  like 
an  ass:  and  the  people,  instead  of  the  usual  response, 
brayed  three  times  in  return''. 

Letters  began  to  revive  in  the  eleventh  century,  but 
made  small  progress  till  towards  its  close.  A  scienti- 
iicial  jargon,  a  false  logic,  employed  about  words, 
without  conveying,  any  idea  of  things,  composed  the 
learning  of  those  times.  It  confounded  all  things,  in 
endeavouring  to  analyse  every  thing.  As  the  new  scho- 
lars were  mostly  clergymen,  theological  matters  chiefly 
engaged  their  attention;  and  as  they  neither  knew  his- 
tory, philosophy,  nor  criticism,  their  labours  were  as 
futile  as  their  inquiries,  which  were  equally  disgraceful 
to  reason  and  religion.  The  conception  of  the  blessed 
Virgin,  and  the  digestion  of  the  eucharist,  were  two  of 

5.  D.  SpecHeg.  Fet.  Scri/it.  vol.ii.        6,  Du  Cange.  voc.  Fmtum. 

VOL.  T.  e  ^  th« 


194  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  principal  objects  of  their  speculation;  and  out  of  the 
last  a  third  arose;  which  was,  to  know  whether  it  wa» 
voided  again^. 

The  disorders  of  government  and  manners  kept 
pace,  as  they  always  will,  with  those  of  religion  and 
learning.  These  disorders  seem  to  have  attained  their 
utmost  height  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury. Then  the  feudal  policy,  the  defects  of  which  I 
have  pointed  outg^  v/^as  become  universal.  The  dukes 
or  governors  of  provinces,  the  marquises  employed  to 
guard  the  marches,  and  even  the  counts  intrusted  with 
the  administration  of  justice,  all  originally  officers  of 
the  crown,  had  made  themselves  masters  of  their 
duchies,  marquisates,  and  counties.  The  king  indeed 
as  superior  lord,  still  received  homage  from  them  for 
those  lands  which  they  held  of  the  crown  ;  and  which, 
in  default  of  heirs,  returned  to  the  royal  domain.  He 
had  a  right  of  calling  theni  out  to  war,  of  judging 
them  in  his  court  by  their  assembled  peers,  and  of  con- 
fiscating their  estates  in  case  of  rebellion  :  but,  in  all 
other  respects,  they  themselves  enjoyed  the  rights  of 
royalty.  They  had  their  sub-vassals,  or  subjects;  they 
made  laws,  held  courts,  coined  money  in  their  own 
name,  and  levied  war  against  their  private  enemies^. 

The  most  frightful  disorders  arose  from  this  state  of 
feudal  anarchy.  Force  decided  all  things.  Europe 
was  one  great  field  of  battle  ;  where  the  weak  struggled 
for  freedom,  and  the  strong  for  dominion.  The  king 
was  without  power,  and  the  nobles  without  principle  : 
they  were  tyrants  at  home,  and  robbers  abroad.  No- 
thing remainedto  be  a  check  upon  ferocity  and  violence. 
The  Scythians  in  their  deserts  could  not  be  less  indebt- 
ed to  the  laws  of  society,  than  the  Europeans  during 
the  period  under  review.  The  people,  the  most  nume- 
rous as  well  as  the  most  useful  class  in  the  community, 

7.  Hist.  Lkeraire  de  France.     8.  Letter.  II.     9.  Du  Cang,  voc.  Feudum 

were 


lET.  XXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  195 

were  either  actual  slaves,  or  exposed  to  so  many  miseries, 
arising  from  pillage  and  oppression,  to  one  or  other  of 
which  they  were  a  continual  prey,  and  often  to  both,  that 
many  of  them  made  a  voluntary  surrender  of  their  liberty 
for  bread  and  protection".  What  must  have  been  the 
state  of  that  government  where  slavery  was  an  eligible 
condition? 

But,  conformable  to  the  observation  of  the  philosophic 
Hume,  there  is  a  point  of  depression  as  well  as  of  exalta- 
tion, beyond  which  human  affairs  seldom  pass,  and  from 
which  they  naturally  return  in  a  contrary  progress.  This 
utmost  point  of  decline,  society  seems  to  have  attained  in 
Europe,  as  I  have  already  said,  about  the  middle  of  the 
tenth  century  ;  when  the  disorders  of  the  feudal  govern- 
ment, together  with  the  corruption  of  taste  and  manners 
consequent  upon  these,  were  arrived  at  their  greatest 
excess.  Accordingly  from  that  sera,  we  can  trace  a  suc- 
cession of  causes  and  events,  which,  with  different  degrees 
of  influence,  contributed  to  abolish  anarchy  and  barbar- 
ism, and  introduce  order  and  politeness. 

Among  the  first  of  these  causes  we  must  rank  Chi- 
valry ;  which,  as  the  elegant  and  inquisitive  Dr.  Ro- 
bertson remarks,  though  commmonly  considered  as  a 
wild  institution,  the  result  of  caprice  and  the  source  of 
extravagance,  arose  naturally  from  the  state  of  society  in 
those  times,  and  had  a  very  serious  effect  in  refining  the 
manners  of  the  European  nations. 

The  feudal  state,  as  has  been  observed,  was  a  state  of 
perpetual  war,  rapine,  and  anarchy-  The  weak  and  un- 
armed were  exposed  every  moment  to  insults  or  injuries. 
The  power  of  the  sovereign  was  too  limited  to  prevent 
these  wrongs,  and  the  legislative  authority  too  feeble  to 
redress  them.  There  was  scarce  any  shelter  from  vio- 
lence and  oppression,  except  what  the  valour  and  gene- 
rosity of  private  persons  afforded:  and  the  arm  of  the 
brave  was  the  only  tribunal  to  which  the  helpless  could 
appeal  for  justice.      The  trader  could  no  longer  travel  in 

10.  Marculfus,  lib.  cap.  8. 

safet-^ 


196  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  l. 

safety,  or  bring  unmolested  his  commodities  to  market. 
Every  possessor  of  a  castle  pillaged  them,  or  laid  them 
tinder  contribution  ;  and  many  not  only  plundered  the 
merchants,  but  carried  off  all  the  women  that  fell  in  their 
way.  Slight  inconveniencies  may  be  overlooked  or  en- 
dured, but  when  abuses  grow  to  a  certain  height, 
the  society  must  reform  or  go  to  ruin.  It  becomes  the 
business  of  all  to  discover,  and  to  apply  such  remedies  as 
will  most  effectually  remove  the  prevailing  disorders. 
Humanity  sprung  from  the  bosom  of  violence,  and  relief 
from  the  hand  of  rapacity.  Those  licentious  and  tyrannic 
nobles  who  had  been  guilty  of  every  species  of  outrage  and 
every  mode  of  oppression ;  who  equally  unjust,  unfeeling, 
and  superstitious,  had  made  pilgrimages,  and  had  pillaged  1 
who  had  massacred,  anddonepenanccltouchedatlast  with 
a  sense  of  natural  equity  and  swayed  by  the  conviction  of 
a  common  interest,  formed  associations  for  the  redress  of 
private  wrongs,  and  the  preservation  of  public  safety". 
So  honourable  was  the  origin  of  an  institution  generally 
represented  as  whimsical. 

The  young  warrior  among  the  ancient  Germans,  as 
well  as  among  the  modern  knights,  was  armed,  for  the 
first  time,  with  certain  ceremonies  proper  to  inspire  mar- 
tial ardour;  but  chivalry,  considered  as  a  civil  and  mili- 
tary institution,  is  as  late  as  the  eleventh  century.  The 
previous  discipline  and  solemnities  of  initiation  were 
many  and  singular.  The  novice  in  chivalry  was  edu- 
cated in  the  house  of  some  knight,  commonly  a  person  of 
high  rank,  whom  he  served  first  in  the  character  of  page, 
and  afterwards  of  squire;  nor  was  he  admitted  to  the 
supreme  honour  of  knighthood,  until  he  had  given  many 
striking  proofs  of  his  valour  and  address.  The  ceremony 
of  initiation  was  very  solemn.  Severe  fastings,  and  nights 
spent,  in  a  church  or  chapel,  in  prayer;  confession  of 
sins;  and  the  receiving  of  the  sacraments  with  devotion; 
bathing,  and  putting  on  white  robes,  as  en^blems  of  that 
purity  of  manners  required  by  the  laws  of  chivalry,  were 
necessary  preparations  for  this  ceremony. 

11.  Mem.  sur  I'A'icienne,  par.  M.  de  laCurne  dc  St.  Palaye. 

When 


LET.  XXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  19Y 

When  the  candidate  for  knighthood  had  gone  through 
all  these,  and  other  introductory  formalities,  he  fell  at 
the  feet  of  the  person  from  whom  he  expected  that  honour, 
and  on  his  knees  delivered  to  him  his  sword.  After  answer- 
ing suitable  questions,  the  usual  oath  was  administered 
to  him  J  namely,  to  serve  his  prince,  defend  the  faith, 
protect  the  persons  and  reputations  of  virtuous  ladies, 
and  to  rescue,  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  widows,  orphans, 
and  all  unhapp)^  persons,  groaning  under  injustice  or 
oppression.  Then  the  knights  and  ladies,  who  assisted 
at  the  ceremony,  adorned  the  candidate  with  the  armour 
and  ensigns  of  chivalry;  beginning  with  putting  on  the 
spurs,  and  ending  with  girding  him  with  the  sword. 
Seeing  him  thus  accoutred,  the  king  or  nobleman,  who 
was  to  confer  the  honour  of  knighthood,  gave  him  the 
accoladcj  or  dubbing,  by  three  gentle  strokes  with  the 
fiat  part  of  his  sword  on  the  shoulder,  or  with  the  palm 
of  his  hand  on  the  neck,  saying,  "  In  the  name  of  God, 
"  St.  Michael,  and  St.  George,  I  make  thee  a  knight  I 
"  be  thou  loyal,  brave,   andhardy'^. 

Valour,  humanity,  courtesy,  justice,  honour,  were 
the  characteristics  of  chivalry:  and  to  these  was  added 
religion;  which,  by  infusing  a  large  portion  of  enthusiastic 
zeal,  carried  them  all  to  a  romantic  excess,  wonderfully 
suited  to  the  genius  of  the  age,  and  productive  of  the 
greatest  and  most  permanent  effects  both  upon  policy  and 
manners.  War  was  carried  on  with  less  ferocity,  when 
humanity,  no  less  than  courage  came  to  be  deemed  the 
ornament  of  knighthood,  and  knighthood  a  distinction 
superior  to  royalty,  and  an  honour  which  princes  were 
proud  to  receive  from  the  hands  of  private  gentlemen  ; 
more  gentle  and  polished  manners  were  introduced,  when 
courtesy  was  recommended  as  the  most  amiable  of  knight- 
ly virtues,  and  every  knight  devoted  himself  to  the  ser- 
vice of  some  lady;  and  violence  and  oppression  decreased, 
when  it  was  accounted  meritorious  to  check  and  to  punish 
them.      A  scrupulous  adherence  to  truth,  with  the  most 


13..  Id.  ibid. 


religious 


198  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  l 

religious  attention  to  fulfil  every  engagement,  but  particu- 
larly those  between  the  sexes,  as  more  easily  violated, 
became  the  distinguishing  character  of  a  gentleman: 
because  chivalry  was  regarded  as  the  school  of  honour, 
and  inculcated  the  most  delicate  sensibility  with  respect 
to  that  point' 3.  And  valour,  seconded  by  so  many 
motives  of  love,  religion,  and  virtue,  became  altogether 
irresistible. 

That  the  spirit  of  chivalry  often  rose  to  an  extrava- 
gant height  and  had  sometimes  a  pernicious  tendency, 
must  however  be  allowed.  In  Spain,  under  the  influence 
of  a  romantic  gallantry,  it  gave  birth  to  a  series  of  wild 
adventures,  which  have  been  deservedly  ridiculed:  in  the 
train  of  Norman  ambition,  it  extinguished  the  liberties  of 
England,  and  deluged  Italy  in  blood ;  and  we  shall  soon  see 
it,  at  the  call  of  superstition,  and  as  the  engine  of  papal 
power,  desolate  Asia  under  the  banner  of  the  cross.  But 
these  violences,  resulting  from  accidental  circumstances, 
ought  not  to  be  considered  as  arguments  against  an  insti- 
tution laudable  in  itself,  and  necessary  at  the  time  of  its 
establishment.  And  they  who  pretend  to  despise  it,  the 
advocates  of  ancient  barbarism  and  ancient  rusticity, 
ought  to  remember.  That  chivalry  not  only  first  taught 
mankind  to  carry  the  civilities  of  peace  into  the  operations 
of  war,  and  to  mingle  politeness  with  the  use  of  the  sword, 

13.  This  sentiment  Uecame  reciprocal.  Even  a  princess,  says  Tirant 
le  Blanc,  declares,  That  slie  submits  to  lose  all  right  to  the  benefit  of  chi. 
valr>',  and  consents  that  never  any  knight  shall  take  arms  in  her  defence 
if  she  keeps  not  the  promise  of  marriage,  which  she  has  given  to  the 
knight  who  adored  her.  And  a  young  gentlewoman,  whose  defence  was 
\tndertaken  by  Gerard  de  Nevers,  beholding  the  ai'dour  with  which  lie  en- 
gaged in  it,  took  off  her  glove,  v.'e  are  told,  and  delivered  it  to  him  saying. 
Sir  my  person,  my  life,  my  lands,  and  my  honour,  I  deposit  in  the  care 
of  God  and  you;  praying  for  £uch  assistance  and  grace  that  I  may  bg 
"  delivered  out  of  this  peril."  (M.  dc  la  Curne  de  St.  Palaye,  ubi  sup.)  Many 
similar  examples  might  be  produced  of  this  mutual  confidence,  the  basis 
of  that  elegant  intercourse  between  the  sexes,  which  so  remarkably  distin- 
guishes modern  from  ancient  nianners. 

but 


LET.  XXI.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  109> 

but  roused  the  human  soul  from  its  lethargy;  invigorating 
the  human  character,  even  while  it  softened  it,  and  pro- 
duced exploits  which  antiquity  cannot  parallel.  Nor 
ought  they  to  forget,  that  it  gave  variety  and  elegance, 
and  communicated  an  increase  of  pleasure,  to  the  inter- 
course of  life,  by  making  woman  a  more  essential  part 
of  society  j  and  is  therefore  entitled  to  our  gratitude, 
though  the  point  of  honour,  and  the  refinements  in  gal- 
lantry, its  more  doubtful  effects,  should  be  excluded  from 
the  improvements  in  modern  manners. 

But  the  beneficial  effects  of  chivalry  were  strongly 
counteracted  by  other  institutions  of  a  less  social  kind. 
Some  persons  of  both  sexes,  of  most  religions  and  most 
countries,  have  in  all  ages  secluded  themselves  from  the 
world;  in  order  to  acquire  a  reputation  for  superior 
sanctity,  or  to  indulge  a  melancholy  turn  of  mind,  affect- 
ing to  hold  converse  only  with  the  Divinity.  The  number 
of  these  solitary  devotees,  however,  in  ancient  times, 
was  few;  and  the  spirit  of  religious  seclusion  among  the 
heathens,  was  confined  chiefly  to  high  southern  latitudes, 
where  the  heat  of  the  climate  favours  the  indolence  of  the 
cloister.  But  the  case  has  been  very  different  in  more 
modern  ages:  for  although  the  monastic  life  had  its  origin 
among  the  Christians  in  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  it 
rapidly  spread  not  only  over  all  Asia  and  Africa,  but  also 
over  Europe,  and  penetrated  to  the  most  remote  corners 
of  the  north  and  west,  almost  at  the  same  time  that  it 
reached  the  extremities  of  the  east  and  south;  to  the 
great  hurt  of  population  and  industry;  and  the  obstruc- 
tion of  the  natural  progress  of  society'*. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  consequences  of  the  passion 
for  pious  solitude.  As  all  who  put  on  the  religious  habit 
after  the  monastic  system  was  completely  formed,  took  a 
vow  of  perpetual  chastity,  the  commerce  of  the  sexes  was 

14.  Mosheim,  Hitt.  Ecdes.  vol.  i.  ii.  et  Auct.  ctt.  iu  loc- 

representee! 


200  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

represented  by  those  holy  visionaries  as  inconsistent  with 
Christian  purity  j  and  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  in 
order  to  preserve  their  influence  with  the  people,  found 
themselves  under  the  necessity  of  professing  a  life  of  ce- 
libacy. This  condescension,  which  was  justly  considered 
as  a  triumph  by  the  monks,  increased  their  importance, 
and  augmented  the  number  of  their  fraternities.  Nothing 
was  esteemed  so  meritorious,  during  the  period  under 
view,  as  the  building  and  endowing  of  monasteries.  And 
multitudes  of  men  and  women  of  all  conditions,  but  espe- 
cially of  the  higher  ranks,  considering  the  pleasures  of 
society  as  seducers  to  the  pit  of  destruction,  and  turning 
with  horror  from  sensual  delight,  retired  to  mountains 
and  deserts,  or  crowded  into  cloisters:  where,  under  the 
notion  of  mortifying  the  body  and  shutting  all  the  avenues 
of  the  soul  against  the  allurements  of  external  objects, 
they  affected  an  austerity  that  gained  them  universal  vene- 
ration, and  threw  a  cloud  over  the  manners  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  ^. 

The  extravagance  to  which  both  sexes  are  said  to 
have  carried  that  austerity,  during  the  first  fervours  of 
monastic  zeal,  seems  altogether  incredible  to  cool  reason, 
unenlightened  by  philosophy.  In  attempting  to  strip 
human  nature  of  every  amiable  and  ornamental  quality, 
in  order  to  humble  pride,  and  repress  the  approaches  of 
loose  desire;  or,  in  their  own  phrase,  "  to  deliver  the 
"  celestial  spirit  from  the  bondage  of  jlesh  and  bloody^ 
they  in  a  manner  divested  themselves  of  the  human  cha- 
racter. They  not  only  lived  among  wild  beasts,  but  after 
the  manner  of  those  savage  animals;  they  ran  naked 
through  the  lonely  deserts  with  a  furious  aspect,  and 
lodged  in  gloomy  caverns;  or  grazed  in  the  fields,  like  the 
common  herd,  and  like  cattle  took  their  abode  in  the 
epen  air'^\  And  some  monks,  and  holy  virgins,  by  the 
habit  of  going  naked,  became  so  completely  covered  with 
hair,  as  to  require  no  other  veil  to  modesty.   Many  chose 

15.  Id.  ib.     16.  Mosheim,  voK  ii.  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  viii. 

their 


LET.  xxi.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  aoi 

their  rugged  dwelling  in  the  hollow  side  or  narrow  cleft 
of  some  rock,  which  obliged  them  to  sit  or  stand  in  th^ 
most  painful  and  excruciating  posture,  during  the  remain- 
der of  their  wretched  lives  j  while  the  others,  with  no  small 
exultation,  usurped  the  den  of  some  ferocious  brother 
brute,  whom  they  affected  to  resemble;  and  not  a  few, 
under  the  name  of  Stylites,  or  Pillar-saints,  ascended 
the  top  of  some  lofty  column,  where  they  remained  for 
years,  night  and  day,  without  any  shelter  from  heat  or 
cold.^ 

Even  after  teligious  houses  were  provided  for  the 
devout  solitaries  of  both  sexes,  and  endowed  with  ample 
revenues  by  the  profuse  superstition  of  the  newly  conver- 
ted barbarians,  they  attempted,  in  their  several  cells  to 
extinguish  every  spark  of  sensuality,  by  meagre  fastings, 
bloody  flagelations,  and  other  cruel  austerities  of  disci- 
pline, too  shocking  to  bear  a  recital.  But  no  sooner  did 
the  monastic  fury  subside,  than  nature  began  to  assert 
her  empire  in  the  hearts  of  the  deluded  fanatics  ;  to  tell 
them  they  had  wants  inconsistent  with  their  engagements, 
and  that  in  abandoning  society,  they  had  relinquished  the 
most  essential  requisites  of  human  happiness.  The  holy 
sisters  and  brothers,  convinced  of  their  pious  folly, 
endeavoured  by  tender  familiarities  to  console  each 
other;  but  without  violating,  as  they  affirmed,  their  vow 
of  chastity'^.  And  although  this  delectable  commerce 
was  prohibited' 5*,  as  alike  scandalous  and  dangerous,  by 
resembling  too  nearly  the  ways  of  the  world,  and  pro- 
voking sensibilities  too  strong  for  the  curb  of  restrain- 
ing grace,  other  solacing  practices  took  place  in  the  con- 
vents, not  more  for  the  honour  of  the  monastic  life^°, 

17.    Id.  ibid.  18.  Moshelm,  ubl.  sup. 

19.  The  si.xth  general  council  (canon  xvii.)  forbids  women  to  pass 
the  night  in  a  male,  or  men  in  a  female  monastery.  And  the  seventh 
general  council  (canon  xx.)  forbids  the  electing  of  double,  or  promis. 
cuous  monasteries  of  both  sexes.  (Heveridge,  torn,  i.)  On  the  irregular 
pleasures  of  the  monks  and  nuns,  see  Thoniassin,  torn.  iii. 

20.  Mosheim,  rol.  ii. 

vol..  I.  H  h  Whenever 


202  THE  lilSTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Whenever  any  set  of  people,  by  laying  a  constraint  upon 
the  natural  appetites,  seek  to  arrive  at  a  degree  of  purity 
inconsistent  with  the  welfare  of  society,  they  never  fail 
to  be  guilty  of  crimes  which  society  disclaims,  and  na- 
ture abhors  ;  unless  they  relax  the  rigour  of  their  insti- 
tutions, or  slide  back,  by  a  blameless  corruption,  into  the 
more  smooth  but  slippery  paths  of  erring  humanity. 

The  ignorance  of  the  limes,  however,  favoured  by 
certain  circumstances,  continued  the  veneration  for  reli- 
gious solitude,  notwithstanding  the  licentiousness  of  the 
monks.  Many  new  monastic  orders  were  instituted  in 
the  elevenlh  century,  under  various  rules  of  discipline  ; 
but  all  with  a  view  to  greater  regularity  of  manners* 
And  monks  were  called  from  the  lonely  cell  to  the  most 
arduous  and  exalted  stations  ;  to  fill  the  papal  chair,  and 
support  the  triple  crov.'n  ;  or  to  discharge  the  office  of 
prime  minister  in  some  mighty  kingdom,  and  regulate 
the  interests  of  nations.  Though  utterly  ignorant  of 
public  transactions,  their  reputation  for  superior  sanctity, 
which  v/as  easily  acquired,  by  real  or  affected  austerity, 
in  ages  of  rapine  and  superstition,  made  them  be  thought 
fit  to  direct  all  things.  This  ghostly  reputation  even  enab» 
led  them  to  trample  upon  the  authority,  and  insult  the 
persons  of  the  princes  whose  government  they  adminis- 
tered ;  especially  if  the  lives  of  such  princes,  as  was 
very  commonly  the  case,  happened  to  be  stained  with 
anv  atrocious  acts  of  lust,  violence,  or  oppression.  In 
order  to  stay  the  uplifted  arm  of  divine  justice,  and 
render  the  Governor  of  the  world  propitious,  the  king 
knelt  at  the  feet  of  the  monk  and  the  minister  !  happy 
to  commit  to  the  favourite  of  Heaven  the  sck'  guidance 
of  his  spiritual  and  temporal  concerns^'..  And  if  chival- 
ry 


21.  Beside  the  wealth  and  inffuence  acquired  by  tP.e  monks,  in  con. 
Stquence  of  the  stiperstitioiis  ignorance  of  the  great,  who  often  fhared 
not  only  their  power  hut  the  fruits  of  their  rapine  with  their  pious 
(jireciors,  a  popular  opinion  which  prevailed  toward  the  cloie  of  the 

tenth 


lET.  XXII.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  SQ3 

ry,  bv  awakening  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  had  not  roused 
the  human  powers  to  deeds  of  valour,  and  revived  the 
passion  for  the  softer  sex,  by  connecting  it  with  arms, 
and  separating  it  from  gross  desire,  Europe  might  have 
sunk  urtder  the  tyranny  of  a  set  of  men,  who  pretended 
to  renounce  the  world  and  its  affairs,  and  Christendom 
have  become  but  one  great  cloister. 


LETTER  XXII. 

<rHE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  AND  ITS  DEPENDENCIES,  ROME  AND 
THE  ITALIAN  STATES,  UNDEK  CONRAD  II.  AND  HIS 
DESCENDANTS    OE    THE    HOUSIC    Of    ERANCONIA. 

VV  E  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  great 
line  of  history,  which  I  shall  endeavour  to  trace  as  exact- 
ly as  possible,  that  you  may  be  able  to  keep  in  view  the 
train  of  events,  without  which,  you  will  neither  be  able 
to  reason  distinctly  on  them  yourself,  nor  to  understand 
clearly  the  reasonings  of  others.  I  shall  therefore  bring 
down  the  history  of  the  German  empire  to  the  death  of 
Henry  V.  when  the  quarrel  between  the  popes  and  the 
emperors  came  to  a  stand,  before  I  speak  of  the  affairs 
of  France  and  England  ;  which,  from  the  Norman  con- 
quest, became  inseparably  intervowen,  but  had  little 
influence  for  some  centuries  on  the  rest  of  Europe. 

Great  disputes  ensued   on  the  death  of  Henry   II. 
about  the  nomination  of  a  successor  to  the  empire  ;  that 

tenth  century,  contributed  greatly  to  augment  their  opulence.  The  thou- 
sand years,  frons  the  birth  or  death  of  Christ,  mentioned  dy  Sr.  John 
'n  the  book  of  Revelations,  were  supposed  to  be  nearly  accomplished* 
and  the  Day  of  Judgment  at  hand.  Multitudes  of  Christians,  therefore 
anxious  only  for  their  eternal  salvation  delivered  over  to  the  monas- 
tic orders  all  their  lands,  treasures,  and  other  valuable  effects,  and 
repaired  with  precipitation  to  Palestine,  where  they  expected  the  appear 
a  nee  of  Christ  on  Mount  Sion.        Mosheim,  vol.  ii. 

prince 


204  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

prince,  as  you  have  had  occasian  to  see,  dying  without 

issue.     The  princes   and  states  assembled   in   the   open 

^,     fields  between  Mentz   and  Worms,   no  hall 
A.  D.  1024,        .  ,   .  . 

being  suthcient  to  hold  them  ;  and,  after  six 

■weeks  encampment  and  deliberation,  they  elected  Con- 
rad, duke  of  Franconia,  surnamed  the  Salic,  because  he 
was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Sala  . 

The  Lombards  revolting,  as  usual,  scon  after  the 
election  of  the  new  emperor,  Conrad  marched  into  Italy; 
and  having  redueed  the  rebels  by  force  of  arms,  he  went 
to   Rome,    here   he  was    consecrated   and   crowned   by 

Pope  John  XX.  in  presence  of  Canute  the 
A.  D   1027'.  . 

Great,  king  of  England,  Denmark,  and  Nor- 
way, and  Rodolph  III.  king  of  Transjurane  Burgundy. 
But  his  stay  at  Rome  was  short.  Scarce  was  the  coro- 
nation over,  when  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Germany, 
on  acccuvit  of  some  insurrections  raised  in  his  absence. 
He  took  the  precaution,  however,  before  he  attempted 
to  humble  the  insurgents,  to  get  his  son  Henry,  then 
above  twelve  years  of  age,  declared  his  successor,  and 
solemnly  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  rebellion 
was  soon  after  suppressed  by  the  valour  of  Conrad.  He 
defeated  the  authors  of  it  in  several  engagements  ;  in 
one  of  which,  Ernest,  duke  of  Suabia,  who  had  been 
put  to  the  ban  of  the  empire,  was  slain\ 

The  word  ha7i  originally  signified  banner,  afterwards 
edict,  and  lastly,  a  declaration  of  outlawry,  which  was 
intimated  thus  "  We  declare  thy  wife  a  widow,  thy  chil- 
*'  dren  orphans  ;  and  send  thee,  in  the  name  of  the 
*'  devil,  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth."  This  is  one 
of  the  first  examples  of  that  proscription. 

The  emperor  next  turned  his  arms  against  the  Poles, 
and  afterward  against  the  Huns,  and  obliged  both  to  sub- 
scribe to  his  own  conditions.  In  the  mean  time  Rodolph, 
king  of  Transjurane  Burgundy,  dying  without  issue,  left 

1,  Jnnal.  de  V  Emp.  torn.  i.  2.  Heiss  lib.  iir 

his 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE  205 

his  dominions  to  Conrad.     They  were  of  small  extent, 
but  included  the  seignioral  superiority  over  ,^„  . 

r.       .  1  ^     •  T,  T-1  A.     D.     1034. 

the  Swiss,  the  Orisons,  rrovence,  r  ranche- 
Compte,  Savoy,  Geneva,  and  Dauphine.  Hence  the  lands 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine  are  still  called  the  Lands 
of  the  Empire;  and  all  the  noblemen  of  those  cantons, 
who  formerly  held  of  Rodolph  and  his  predecessors,  now 
hold  of  the  emperors 

While  Conrad  II.  was  employed  in  taking  possession 
of  his  new  inheritance,  the  Poles  revolted;  and  this  re- 
bellion was  no  sooner  quelled  than  he  had  occasion  to 
oppose  another  in  Italy,  headed  by  Hubert,  bishop  of 
Milan,  whom  he  had  loaded  with  favours.      Conrad  made 

so    much  haste,   that  Milan  was  taken  by 

.  A.    D.    1039. 

sm-prise.      The  bishop  was  condemned  to 

perpetual  banishment;   and  the  emperor  died  soon  after 

his  return  to  Germany,  leaving  behind  him  the  reputation 

of  a  just,  generous,  and  magnanimous  prince*. 

Henry  III.  surnamedthe  Black,  son  of  Conrad  and  Gi- 
sella  of  Suabia,  was  elected  in  consequence  of  his  father's 
recommendation,  and  crowned  a  second  time  at  Aix-la- 
Chappelle. 

The  first  years  of  Henry's  reig-n  were  signalized  by 
successful  wars  against  Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Hungary; 
which,  however,  produced  no  memorable  event.  Rome 
and  Italy,  as  usual,  were  involved  in  confusion,  and  dis- 
tracted by  factions,  particularly  those  of  the  Pandolphi 
and  the  Ptolemei.  The  Pandolphi  had  thrust  Benedict 
IX.  a  boy  of  twelve  years  of  age,  into  the  papacy.  He 
was  deposed  by  Ptolemei  and  the  people,  who  substituted 
in  his  place  Sylvester  III.  This  new  pope  was  deposed, 
in  his  turn,  by  the  Pandolphi,  and  his  rival 
re-established.  Benedict,  however,  finding  *  ' 
himself  universally  despised,  voluntarily  resigned  in  fa- 
vour of  John,  archpriest  of  the  Roman  church:  but  after- 
wards repenting  of  his  resignation,  he  wanted  to  resume 
his  dignity. 

3.  Annal.  dc  VEmp.  torn.  i.  4.  Heiss,  lib.  ii. 

These 


206  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

These  three  popes,  supported  by  their  several  parti- 
zans,  and  living  peaceably  with  each  other,  maintained 
themselves  each  upon  a  different  branch  of  the  holy  see. 
One  resided  at  St.  Peter's,  another  at  Santa  Maria 
Major,  and  the  third  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  all 
leading  the  most  profligate  and  scandalous  lives.  A 
priest,  called  Gratian,  at  last  put  an  end  to  this  singular 
triumvirate.  Partly  by  artifice,  partly  by  presents,  he 
prevailed  upon  all  three  to  renounce  their  pretensions  to 
the  papacy;  and  the  people  of  Rome,  out  of  gratitude  for 
so  signal  a  service  to  the  church,  chose  him  pope,  under 
the  name  of  Gregory  VI. 

Henry  III.  took  umbrage  at  this  election,  in  which 
he  had  not  been  consulted,  and  marched  with  an  army 
into  Italy.  No  emperor  ever  exercised  more  absolute 
authority  in  that  country.  He  deposed  Gregory,  as 
having  been  guilty  of  simony,  and  filled  the  papal  chair 
ifUfi  with  his  own  chancellor,  Suidgeror  Heidiger, 
bishop  of  Bamberg,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Clement  11.  and  afterward  consecrated  at  Rome,  Henry 
and  the  empress  Agnes*. 

This  ceremony  being  over,  and  the  Romans  having 
■worn  never  to  elect  a  pope  without  the  approbation* of 
the  reigning  emperor,  Henry  proceeded  to  Capua,  where 
he  was  visited  by  Drago,  Rainulphus,  and 
other  Norman  adventurers;  who,  having  left 
their  country,  namely  the  duchy  of  Normandy,  at  diffe- 
rent times,  had  made  themselves  masters  of  great  part  of 
Apulia  and  Calabria,  at  the  expense  of  the  Greeks  and 
Saracens.  Henry  entered  into  a  treaty  with  them  ;  and 
not  only  solemnly  invested  them  with  those  territories 
which  they  had  acquired  by  conquest,  but  prevailed  on 
the  pope  to  excommunicate  the  Beneventines,  who  had 
refused  to  open  their  gates  to  him,  and  bestowed  that 
city  and  its  dependencies,  as  fiefs  of  the  empire,  upon 
llie  Norman  princes,   provided  they  took  possession  by 

5.  Muratori,  Annul,  d'ltal.    Mosheim,  Sist.  Ecdes.  vol.  ii. 

force 


LET.  XXII.]       MODERN  EUROPE  HO? 

force  of  arms^  What  use  they  made  of  the  imperial 
favour,  we  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  see.  At 
presi^nt  the  papacy  claims  all  our  attention. 

The  emperor  was  scarce  returned  to  Germany,  when 
he  received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Clement  II.  Cle- 
mpnt  was  succeeded  in  the  apostolic  see,  by  Damasus  II, 
who  also  dying  soon  after  his  elevation,  Hen- 
ry  nominated  Bruno,  bishop  of  Toul,  to  the 
vacant  chair.  This  Bruno,  who  was  the  emperor's 
relation,  immediately  assumed  the  pontificals;  but  being 
a  modest  and  pious  prelate,  he  threw  them  off  on  his  jour- 
ney, by  the  persuasion  of  Hildebrand,  a  monk  of  Cluny, 
and  went  to  Rome  as  a  private  man.  "  The  emperor 
"  alone,"  said  Hildebrand,  "  has  no  right  to  create  a 
"  pope."  He  accompanied  Bruno  to  Rome,  and  secretly 
retarded  his  election,  that  he  might  arrogate  to  himself 
the  merit  of  obtaining  it^.  The  scheme  succeeded  to 
his  wish,  Bruno,  who  took  the  name  of  Leo  IX.  believ- 
ing himself  indebted  to  Hildebrand  for  the  pontificate, 
favoured  him  with  his  particular  friendship  and  confi- 
dence :  and  hence  originated  the  power  of  this  enterpri- 
sing monk,  of  obscure  birth  but  boundless  ambition,  who 
so  long  governed  Rome,  and  whose  zeal  for  the  exal- 
tation of  the  church  occasioned  so  many  troubles  to 
Europe. 

Leo  soon  after  his  elevation,  waited  on  the  emperor 
at  Worms,  to  crave  assistance  against  the  Norman  prin- 
ces, who  were  become  the  terror  of  Italy,  and  treated 
their  subjects  with  great  severity.  Henry  furnished  the 
pope  with  an  army  ;  at  the  head  of  which  his  holiness 
marched  against  the  Normans,  after  having  excommu- 
nicated  them,  accompanied  by  a  great  num- 
ber of  bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics,  who 
were  all  either  killed  or  taken  prisoners,  the  Germans 
and  Italians  being  totally  routed.      Leo  himself  was  led 

6.  Hist.  Conq.  de.  Norm.  7.  Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  ii.  Diehmar 

Vit.  Greg.    VII. 

captive 


20S  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

captive  to  Benevento,  of  which  the  Normans  were  now 
masters,  and  which  Henry  had  granted  to  the  pope  in 
exchange  for  ihe  fief  of  Bamberg  in  Germany  ;  and  the 
apostolic  see  is  to  this  day  in  possession  of  Benevento, 
by  vtirue  of  Henry's  donation.  The  Norman  chiefs, 
however,  who  had  a  right  to  that  city  by  a  prior  grant,  res- 
tored it  in  the  mean  time,  to  the  princes  of  Lombardy  ; 
and  the  holy  father  was  treated  with  so  much  respect  by 
the  conquerors,  that  he  revoked  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication, and  joined  his  sanction  to  the  imperial  inves- 
titure for  the  lands  which  they  held  in  Apulia  and  Ca- 
labria"'. 

Leo  died  soon  after  his  release  ;  and  the  emperor 
about  the  same  time,  caused  his  infant  son, 
afterwards  the  famous  Henry  IV.  to  be  de- 
clared king  of  the  Romans,  a  title  still  in  use  for  the 
acknowledged  heir  of  the  empire.  Gebhard,  a  German 
bishop  was  elected  pope,  under  the  name  of  Victor  II. 
and  confirmed  by  the  address  of  Hildebrand,  Vvho  waited 
on  the  emperor  in  person  for  that  purpose,  though  he 
disdained  to  consult  him  before  hand  .  Perhaps  Hilde- 
brand would  not  have  found  this  task  so  easy,  had  not 
Henry  been  involved  in  a  war  with  the  Hungarians, 
•who  pressed  him  hard,  but  whom  he  obliged  at  last  to 
pay  a  large  tribute  and  furnish  him  annually  with  a  cer- 
tain number  of  fighting  men. 

As  soon  as  the  emperor  had  finished  this  war,  and 
others  to  which  it  gave  rise,  he  marched  into  Italy  to 
inspect  the  conduct  of  his  sister  Beatrice,  widow  of  Boni- 
face marquis  of  Mantua,  and  made  her  prisoner.  She 
had  married  Gozelo,  duke  of  Lorrain,  without  the 
emperor's  consent  :  and  contracted  her  daughter  Ma- 
tilda, by  the  marquis  of  Mantua,  to  Godfrey  duke  of 
Spoleto  and  Tuscany,  Gozelo's  son  by  a  former  marriage. 

This  formidable  alliance  iustly  alarmed  Hen- 
A.  D.  1056.  ,      ,1        f  1  1-       1       •.  1 

ry:  he  therelore  attempted  to  dissolve  it  by 

8.  Giannone,   Hist,  di  NapoL         9.  Leo  Csliensis,  lib  ii.  Hist  Lite 
raire  de  la  France,  torn.  vii.  ' 

carrying 


LET.  XXII.]       MODERN  EUROPE.  S«9 

carrying  his  sister  into  Germany,  where  he  died  soon 
after  his  return,  in  the  thirtj-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  sixteenth  of  his  reign. 

This  emperor,  in  his  last  journey  to  Italy,  concluded 
an  alliance  with  Contarini,  doge  of  Venioe.  1  hat  n  pub- 
lic was  already  rich  and  powerful,  though  it  had  onlv  been 
ehfranchised  in  the  year  998,  from  the  tribute  of  a  mantle 
of  cloth  of  gold,  which  it  formerly  paid,  as  a  mark  of 
subjection,  to  the  emperors  of  Constantinople.  Genoa 
was  the  rival  of  Venice  in  power  and  in  commerce,  and 
was  already  in  possession  of  the  island  of  Corsica,  which 
the  Genoese  had  taken  from  the  Saracens'".  These  two 
cities,  which  I  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  frequently 
to  mention,  ingrossed  at  this  time  almost  all  the  trade  of 
Europe.  There  was  no  city  in  1' ranee  or  Germany  equal, 
in  any  respect,   to  eidier  of  them. 

Henry  IV.  surnamedthe  Great,  was  only  five  years 
old  at  his  father's  death.  He  was  immedi  itelv  acknow- 
ledged emperor  in  a  diet  of  the  princes  convoked  at  Co- 
logne, and  the  care  of  his  education  was  committed  to  his 
mother  Agnes,  who  also  governed  the  empire.  She  was 
a  woman  of  spirit  and  address,  and  discharged  both  her 
public   and  private   trust  vviih   diligence  and  ability. 

-Germany,  during  the  first  years  of  this  reijn,  was 
harassed  with  civil  wars;  so  that  the  empress  Agnes, 
notwithstanding  her  strong  talents,   found  it   difficult  to 

maintain  her  authority.       And  at  length  the 
1    ,  f  c  1    u  •  ,     °    ,.    ,       A.  D.  1062. 

dukes  or  baxony  and  Bavaria,    uncles  oi  tne 

young  emperor,  carried  him  off  fnjm  her  by  stratagem, 
accusing  her  of  sacrificing  the  public  welfare  to  the  will 
of  the  bishop  of  Augsburg,  her  minister  and  supposed 
gallant.  Thus  divested  of  the  regency,  she  fled  to 
Rome,   and  there  took  the  veil  '. 

Henry  was  now  put  under  the  tuition  of  the  arch- 
bishops of  Cologne  and  Bremen,  v/ho  discharged  their 
trust  in  a  very  opposite  manner.      The  first  endeavoured 

10.  Muratoi-i.,  Jnnal.  d'ltal.  torn.  vi.     11.  Annal.  deVMmp. 
VOL.    I.  I  i  to 


SlO  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

to  inspire  him  with  a  love  of  learning  and  virtue,  while 
the  second  sought  only  to  acquire  an  ascendency  over  his 
passions,  by  indulging  him  in  all  the  pleasures  of  youth. 
This  indulgence  produced  a  habit  of  licentiousness  which 
he  could  never  afterwards  restrain. 

Italy,  in  the  meantime,  was  a  prey,  as  usual,  to  In- 
testine disorders.  After  a  variety  of  troubles,  excited 
on  account  of  the  pontificate,  Nicholas  11.  the  creature 
of  Hildebrand,  passed  a  famous  decree,  which  gave  rise 
to  many  more;  and  by  which  it  was  ordained,  in  a  coun- 
cil of  a  hundred  and  thirteen  bishops,  "  That  for  the  future 
the  cardinals  only  should  elect  the  pope,  and  that  the 
election  should  be  confirmed  by  the  rest  of  the  Roman 
clergy  and  the  people:  saving  the  honour,"  adds  he, 
"  due  to  our  dear  son  Henry,  now  king;  and  who,  if  it 
"  please  God,  shall  one  day  be  emperor,  according  to  the 
"  privilege  which  we  have  already  conferred  upon  him; 
"  and  saving  the  honour  of  his  successors  on  whom  the 
"  apostolic  see  shall  confer  the  same  high  privilege''." 

The  same  pope  Nicholas  II.  after  having  in  vain 
excommunicated  the  Norman  princes,  made  protectors 
and  vassals  of  them;  and  they,  who  were  feudatories  of 
the  empire,  less  afraid  of  the  popes  than  the  emperors, 
readily  did  homage  for  their  lands  to  Nicholas,  in  1059, 
and  agreed  to  hold  them  of  the  churches. 

This  mode  of  holding  was  very  common  in  those  days 
of  rapacity  both  for  princes  and  private  persons,  the  only 
authority  then  respected  being  that  of  the  church:  and  the 
Normans  wisely  made  use  of  it  as  a  safeguard  against  the 
emperors.  They  gave  their  lands  to  the  church  under  the 
name  of  an  offering  or  oblata,  and  continued  in  possession 

12.  Chronlcon  Farsense  in  Murat.  Script.  Fir.  Ital.  torn.  ii.  par.  ii. 
To  this  edict  of  Nicholas  II.  the  college  of  cardinals  owes  the  extensive 
mthority  and  important  privileges  it  still  enjoys.  Under  the  name  oi  Car- 
dinals he  comprehends  the  seven  Roman  bishops,  Avho  were  considered 
RS  his  suffragans,  and  also  the  twenty-eight  presbyters,  or  parish  priesti 
who  officiated  in  the  principal  churches.    Mosheim,  Hut.  Eccles.  rol  ii. 

13.  Gixnnone,  Hist.  di.  Napol. 

of 


LIT.  XXII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  211 

of  them  on  paying  a  slight  acknowledgment.  Hence  the 
pope's  claim  of  superiority  over  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
and  Sicily. 

Robert  Guiscard,  brother  of  Drago,  and  one  of  the  gal- 
lant sons  of  Tancred  of  Hauteville,  received  from  the 
pope  the  ducal  crown  of  Apulia  and  Calabria ;  and  Richard, 
count  of  Aversa,  was  confirmed  prince  of  Capua,  a  title 
which  he  had  already  assumed.  The  pope  also  gave  the 
Normans  a  right  to  hold  Sicily  in  the  same  manner  with 
their  other  possessions,  provided  they  could  expel  the 
Saracens  from  it'^:  and  Robert  Guiscard  and  his  brother 
Roger  made  themselves  fully  masters  of  that  island  ia 
1061. 

Henry  IV.  assumed  the  reins  of  government  at  th« 
age  of  twenty -two,  and  began  his  adminis-  my* 

tration  with  restraining  the  thefts,  rob- 
beries, and  extortions,  which  his  subjects  of  the  duchy 
of  Saxony  exercised  upon  strangers,  as  well  as  upon 
each  other.  But  the  Saxon  princes  and  nobles,  who 
were  gainers  by  these  abuses,  particularly  by  the  infa- 
inous  practice  of  imprisoning  travellers,  and  making 
them  pay  for  their  ransom,  opposed  the  intended  refor- 
mation, and  entered  into  an  association  against  the  em- 
peror, under  pretence  that  their  liberties  were  in  danger. 
In  this  rebellious  disposition  they  were  encouraged  by 
the  arrogance  of  pope  Alexander  II.  who,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Hildebrand,  his  confidant  and  oracle,  sum- 
moned Henry  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  the  holy 
see,  on  account  of  his  loose  life,  and  to  answer  to  the 
charge  of  having  exposed  the  investiture  df  bishops  to 

sal   ,,. 
e  ■' 
Henry  treated  the  pope's  mandate  with  the  contempt 

it  deserved;   and  at  the  same  time  carried  on  war  with 
vigour  against  the  Saxons  and  their  rebellious  associates, 
whom  he  totally  routed  in  a  bloody  engage- 
ment,  and  made  himself  master  of  all  Saxo-  ^^' ^'  ' 

14.  Id.  ibid.     15.  Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  iii.  D'uhmar.   V,t.  Gre?.  VII. 

nv. 


fit  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

ny.      The  heads  of  the   rebellion  asked  pardon  of  the 
emperor  in  public,  and  begged  to  be  restored 
to  his  favour:   he  generously  accepted  their 
submission,   and  peace  was  restored  to  Germany'*. 

But  rienry  was  not  suffered  long  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  his  valour.  A  new  storm  threatened  him  from  Italy: 
which  afterwards  lell  with  violence  on  his  head,  and 
shook  all  the  thrones  in  Christendom.  On  the  death  of 
Alexander  11.  in  10/3,  liildebrand  had  been  elected 
pope  under  the  name  of  dregory  VII.  and  although  he 
had  not  aske  d  the  emperor's  voice,  he  prudently  waited 
for  his  confirmation,  before  he  assvuned  the  tiara.  He 
obtained  it  by  this  mark  of  submission:  Henry  confirmed 
his  election;  and  (^rcgory  having  nothing  further  to  fear, 
pulled  off  the  mask.  He  began  his  pontificate  with  ex- 
communicating every  ecclesiastic  who  should  receive  a 
benefice  from  a  layman,  and  every  lavman  by  whom  such 
benefice  should  be  conierrcd.  '^'his  was  eng-aging  the 
chvirch  in  an  open  war  with  the  sovereigns  of  all  nations. 
But  the  thunder  of  the  holy  see  was  more  particularly 
directed  against  the  emperor;  and  Kenry,  sensible  of 
his  danger,  and  willing  to  avert  it,  wrote  a  submissive 
letter  to  Gregory,  who  pretended  to  take  him  into 
favour,  after  having  severely  reprimanded  him  for  the 
crimes  of  simony  and  debauchery,  laid  against  him  by 
the  late  pope,  and  of  which  he  now  confessed  himself 
guilty  '. 

Gregory,  at  the  same  time,  proposed  a  crusade,  in 
order  to  deliver  the  holy  sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the 
Infidels  ;  offering  to  head  the  Christians  in  person,  and 
desiring  Henrv  to  serve  as  a  volunteer  under  his  com- 
mand!— n  project  so  wild  and  extravagant,  that  nothing 
but  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  times,  the  double  enthu- 
siasm of  religion  and  valour,  can  save  the  memory  of  its 
author  from  the  imputation  of  insanity. 

16.  Heiss,  Hist,  de  I'Emp.  lib.  ii.    17.  Jnnal.  cle  I'Emfi.  torn.  i.  Dith- 
mar.  Vit.  Greg.  Vll.     18.  Id.  ibid. 

Gregory's 


*ET.xxii,]  MODERN  EUROPE.  2ls 

Gregory's  project  of  making  himself  lord  of  Chris- 
tendom, by  not  only  dissolving  the  jurisdiction  which 
kings  and  emperors  had  hitherto  exercised  over  the 
various  orders  of  the  clergy,  but  also  by  subjecting  to 
the  papal  authority  all  temporal  princes,  and  rendering 
their  dominions  tributary  to  the  see  of  Rome,  seems  no 
less  romantic;  yet  this  he  undertook,  and  not  altogether 
without  success.  Solomon,  king  of  Hungary,  dethroned 
by  his  brother  Geysa,  had  fled  to  Henry  for  protection, 
and  renewed  the  homage  of  Hungary  to  the  empire. 
Gregory,  who  favoured  Geysa,  exclaimed  against  this  act 
of  submission:  and  said,  in  a  letter  to  Solomon,  "  You 
"  ought  to  know,  that  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  belongs 
*'  to  the  Roman  church;  and  learn,  that  you  will  incur 
*'  the  indignation  of  the  holy  see,  if  you  do  not  acknow- 
-*'  ledge  that  you  hold  your  dominions  of  the  pope,  and 
*'  not  of  the  emperor  ^I" 

This  presumptuous  declaration,  and  the  neglect  it 
met  with,  brought  the  quarrel  between  the  empire  and 
the  church  to  a  crisis.  It  was  directed  to  Solomon,  but 
intended  for  Henry.  And  if  Gregory  could  not  succeed 
in  one  way,  he  was  resolved  that  he  should  in  another: 
he  therefore  resumed  the  claim  of  investitures,  for  v/hich 
he  had  a  more  plausible  pretence;  and  as  that  dispute 
and  its  consequences  merit  particular  attention,  I  shall 
be  more  circumstantial  than  usual. 

The  predecessors  of  Henry  IV.  had  always  enjoyed 
the  right  of  nominating  bishops  and  abbots,  and  of  giving 
them  investiture  by  the  ring  and  crosier.  This  right  they 
had  in  common  with  almost  all  princes.  The  predeces- 
sors of  Gregory  VII.  had  been  accustomed,  on  their 
part,  to  send  legates  to  the  emperors,  in  order  to  entreat 
their  assistance;  to  obtain  their  confirmation,  or  desire 
them  to  come  and  receive  the  papal  sanction,  but  for  no 
other  purpose.  Gregory,  however,  sent  two  legates  to 
summon  Henry  to  appear  before  him  as  a  delinquent, 

19.  Goldast.  Apologia  pro  Hen.  IV.  Tbnmas.  Conten.  inter  Imp.  et 
Saccrdot. 

beca^na 


HU  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

because  he  still  continued  to  bestow  investitures,  not- 
withstanding the  apostolic  decree  to  the  contrary;  adding, 
that  if  he  should  fail  to  yield  obedience  to  the  church, 
he  must  expect  to  be  excommunicated  and  dethroned. 

Incensed  at  that  arrogant  message  from  one  whom 
h©  considered  as  his  vassal,  Henry  dismissed  the  legates 
with  very  little  ceremony,   and  convoked  an  assembly  of 

^^„^    all  the  German  princes  and  dignified  ecclcsi- 
A.  D.  lore.      .        -„        '     ,  f     °  J  ... 

astics  at  Worms;  where,  atter  mature  delibe- 
ration, they  concluded,  that  Gregory  having  usurped  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  by  indirect  means,  infected  the  church 
of  God  with  many  novelties  and  abuses,  and  deviated 
from  his  duty  to  his  sovereign  in  several  scandalous  at- 
tempts, the  emperor,  by  that  supreme  authority  derived 
from  his  predecessors,  ought  to  divest  him  of  his  dignity, 
and  appoint  another  in  his  place*". 

In  consequence  of  this  determination,  Henry  sent  an 
ambassador  to  Rome,  with  a  formal  deprivation  of  Gre- 
gory; who,  in  his  turn  convoked  a  council,  at  which 
were  present  a  hundred  and  ten  bishops,  who  unani- 
mously agreed,  that  the  pope  had  just  cause  to  depose 
Henry;  to  dissolve  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  the 
princes  and  states  had  taken  in  his  favour,  and  to  pro- 
hibit them  from  holding  any  correspondence  with  him 
on  pain  of  excommunication.  And  that  sentence 
was  immediately  fulminated  against  the  emperor  and 
his  adherents.  "  In  the  name  of  Almighty  God,  and 
"  by  your  authority,"  said  Gregory,  alluding  to  the 
members  of  the  council,  "  I  prohibit  Henry,  the  son  of 
"  our  emperor  Henry,  from  governing  the  Teutonic 
"  kingdom,  and  Italy  :  I  release  all  Christians  from 
"  their  oath'of  allegiance  to  him;  and  I  strictly  forbid 
"  all  persons  from  serving  or  attending  him  as  king^'." 

This  is  the  first  instance  of  a  pope's  pretending  to 
deprive  a  sovereign  of  his  crown,  but  it  was  too  flatter- 
ing to  ecclesiastical  pride  to  be  the   last! — No  prelate, 

20.  Schilter.  De  Libertat.  Ecdes.  German,  lib.  iv.     21.  Dithmar.  Hist. 
Bell,  inter  Imp.  et  Sacerdot. 

from 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  215 

from  the  foundation  of  the  church,  had  ever  presumed 
to  use  so  imperious  a  language  as  Gregory;  for  although 
Lewis  the  Debonnaire  had  been  deposed  by  his  bishops, 
there  was  at  least  some  colour  for  that  step.  Thejr 
condemned  Lewis,  in  appearance,  only  to  do  public 
penance. 

The  circvdar  letters  written  by  this  pontiff  breathe, 
the  same  spirit  with  his  sentence  of  deposition.  In 
these  he  repeatedly  asserts,  That  "  bishops  are  superior 
"  to  kings,  and  made  to  judge  them!" — expressions 
alike  artful  and  presumptuous,  and  calculated  for  bring- 
ing in  all  the  churchmen  of  the  world  to  his  stand- 
ard. Gregory's  purpose  is  said  to  have  been,  to  engage 
in  the  bonds  of  fidelity  and  allegiance  to  the  Vicar  of 
Christ,  as  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  all  the 
potentates  of  the  earth,  and  to  establish  at  Rome  an 
annual  assembly  of  bishops,  by  whom  the  contests  that 
might  arise  between  kingdoms  and  sovereign  states 
were  to  be  decided;  the  rights  and  pretensions  of  princes 
to  be  examined,  and  the  fate  of  nations  and  empires  to 
be  determined". 

The  haughty  pontiff  knew  well  what  consequences 
would  follow  the  thunder  of  the  church.  The  German 
bishops  came  immediately  over  to  his  party,  and  drew 
along  with  them  many  of  the  nobles;  the  brand  of  civil 
war  still  lay  smouldering,  and  a  bull  properly  directed 
was  sufficient  to  set  it  in  a  blaze.  The  Saxons,  Henry's 
old  enemies,  made  use  of  the  papal  displeasure  as  a  pre- 
tence for  rebelling  against  him.  Even  his  favourite 
Guelf,  a  nobleman  to  whom  he  had  given  the  duchy  of 
Bavaria,  supported  the  malecontents  with  that  power 
which  he  owed  to  his  sovereign's  bounty:  nay,  those  vert 
princes  and  prelates  who  had  assisted  in  deposing  Gre- 
gory, gave  up  their  monarch  to  be  tried  by  the  pope;  and 
his  holiness  was  solicited  to  come  to  Augsburg  for  that 
purpose^3. 

22.  Moshelm,  Hitt.  Eccles.  vol.  ii.  par.  ii.  cent.  xi.  et  Auct.  cit.  is  loc. 
2*.  Uithir.ar.  ubi  sup.  Annul.  Cennan.  ap.  Struy, 

Wijling 


216  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Willing  to  prevent  this  odious  trial  at  Augsburg, 
Henry  took  the  unaccountable  resolution  of  suddenly 
passing  the  Alps  at  Tyrol,  accompanied  only  by  a  few 
domestics,  in  order  to  ask  absolution  of  Gregory,  his 
tyrannical  oppressor,  who  was  then  in  Canosa,  on  the 
Apennines;  a  fortress  belonging  to  the  countess  or  duchess 
Matilda,  whom  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention. 
At  the  gates  of  this  place  the  emperor  presented  himself 
:as  an  humble  penitent.  He  alone  was  admitted  within 
the  outer  court:  where,  being  stript  of  his  robes,  and 
wrapt  in  sack-cloth,  he  was  obliged  to  remain 
'  *  *  *  three  days,  in  the  month  of  Janviary,  barefoot- 

ed at.id  fasting,  before  he  was  permitted  to  kiss  the  feet 
of  his  holiness,  who  all  that  time  was  shut  up  with  the 
devout  Matilda,  whose  spiritual  director  he  had  long 
been;  and,  as  some  say,  her  gallant.  But  be  that  as  it 
may,  her  attachment  to  Gregory,  and  her  hatred  against 
the  Gcrmani',  was  so  great,  that  she  made  over  all  her 
estates  to  the  apostolic  see:  and  this  donation  is  the  true 
cause  of  all  the  wars,  which  since  that  period  have  raged 
between  the  emperors  and  the  popes.  She  possessed,. 
in  her  own  rigbt,  great  part  of  Tuscany;  Mantua,  Par- 
ma, Reggio,  Piacentia,  Ferrara,  Modena,  Verona,  and 
almost  the  whoU^  of  what  is  nov/  called  the  patrimony  of 
St.  Peter,  from  Viterbo  to  Orvieto ;  together  with  part 
of  Umbria,  Spoleto,   and  the  Marche  of  Ancona'4. 

The  emperor  was  at  length  permitted  to  throw  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  the  haughty  pontiff,  who  condescended 
to  grant  him  absolution,  after  he  had  sworn  obedi- 
ence to  his  holiness  in  all  things,  and  promised  to  sub- 
mit to  his  solemn  decision  at  Augsburg;  so  that  Henry 
got  nothing  but  disgrace  by  his  journey,  while  Gregory', 
elated  with  his  triumph,  and  now  looking  upon  himself, 
not  altogether  without  reason,  as  the  lord  and  master 
of  all  the  crowned  heads  in  Christendom,  said  in  several 
of  his  letters,  that  it  v^-as  his  duty  *'  to  pull  down  the 
*'  pride  of  kings. "^ 

24.  Fran.  Mar.  Florent.    Man  della.  Contesaa  Matilda. 

This 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  2ir 

This  extraordinary  accommodation  gave  much  dis- 
gust to  the  princes  of  Italy.  They  never  could  forgive 
the  insolence  of  the  pope  nor  the  abject  humility  of  the 
emperor.  Happily  however  for  Henry,  their  indigna- 
tion at  Gregory's  arrogance  overbalanced  their  detesta- 
tion oi  his  meanness.  He  took  advantage  of  this  temper; 
and  by  a  change  of  fortune,  hitherto  unknown  to  the 
German  emperors,  he  found  a  strong  party  in  Italy, 
when  abandoned  in  Germany.  All  Lombardy  took  up 
arms  against  the  pope,  while  he  was  raising  all  Ger- 
many against  the  emperor. 

Gregory,  on  the  one  hand  made  use  of  every  art  to 
get  another  emperor  elected  in  Germany;  and  Henry, 
on  his  part,  left  nothing  undone  to  persuade  the  Italians 
to  elect  another  pope.  The  Germans  chose 
Rodolph,  duke  of  Suabia,  who  was  solemnly 
crowned  at  Mentz ;  and  Gregory,  hesitating  on  this  occa- 
sion, behaved  truly  like  the  supreme  judge  of  kings. 
He  had  deposed  Henry,  but  still  it  was  in  his  power 
to  pardon  that  prince  :  he  therefore  affected  to  be  dis- 
pleased that  Rodolph  was  consecrated  without  his  order; 
and  declared,  that  he  wovild  acknowledge  as  emperoi 
and  king  of  Germany,  him  of  the  two  competitors  who 
should  be  most  submissive  to  the  holy  see--^ 

Henry.^  however,  trusting  more  to  the  valour  of 
his  troops  than  to  the  generosity  of  the  pope,  set  out 
immediately  for  Germany,  where  he  defeated  his  ene- 
mies in  several  engagements:  and  Gregory 
seeing  no  hopes  of  submission,  thundered  '  '  ^'  °  ^' 
out  a  second  sentence  of  excommunication  aga'nst  him, 
confirming  at  the  same  time  the  election  of  Rodolph, 
to  whom  he  sent  a  golden  crown,  on  which  the  follow- 
ing well-known  verse,  equally  haughty  and  puerile,  was 
engraved: 

Fetra  dcd'it  Petro^   Petrus  diadema  Rodolpho. 

25.  Dithmar.   Hist,  Bell,  inter  Imp.    et  Sacerdot,       Muratori,  Annal 
i'ltal. 

VOL.    I.  K  k  This 


818  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

This  donation  was  also  accompanied  with  a  prophet- 
ic anathema  against  Henry,  so  wild  and  extravagant, 
as  to  make  one  doubt,  whether  it  was  dictated  by  enthu- 
siasm or  priestcraft.  After  depriving  him  of  strength 
in  combat^  and  condemning  him  never  to  be  victorious.,  it 
concludes  with  the  following  remarkable  apostrophe  to 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  :  "  Make  all  men  sensible, 
*'  that  as  you  can  bind  and  loose  every  thing  in  Heaven, 
*'  you  can  also  upon  earth  take  from,  or  give  to  every 
"  one  according  to  his  deserts,  empires,  kingdoms, 
"  principalities — let  the  kings  and  princes  of  the  age 
*'  then  instantly  feel  your  power,  that  they  may  not 
*'  dare  to  despise  the  orders  of  your  church;  let  your 
*'  justice  be  so  speedily  executed  upon  Henry,  that 
"  nobody  may  doubt  but  he  falls  by  your  means,  and 
"  not  by  chance^*^." 

In  order  to  avoid  the  effects  of  the  second  excom- 
munication, Henry  took  a  step  worthy  of  himself.  He 
assembled  at  Brixen,  in  the  county  of  Tyrol,  about 
twenty  German  bishops;  who  acting  also  for  the  bishops 
of  Lombardy,  unanimously  resolved,  that  the  pope, 
instead  of  having  power  over  the  emperor,  owed  him 
obedience  and  allegiance;  that  Gregory  VII.  having 
rendered  himself  unworthy  of  the  papal  chair,  by  his 
inisconduct  and  rebellion,  ought  to  be  deposed  from  a 
dignity  he  so  little  deserved.  They  accordingly  de- 
graded Hildebrand,  and  elected  in  his  room  Guibert, 
archbishop  of  Ravenna,  a  person  of  undoubted  merit, 
who  took  the  name  of  Clement  III. 

Henry  promised  to  put  the  new  pope  in  possession 
of  Rome.  But  he  was  obliged,  in  the  mean  time,  to 
shift  the  scene  of  action,  and  to  emplo'^  all  his  forces 
against  his  rival  Rodolph,  who  had  re-assembled  a  large 
body  of  troops  in  Saxony.  The  two  armies  met  near 
Mersburg,  and  both  fought  with  great  fury.  Victory 
remained   long   doubtful  ;    but  the  fortune    of   the    day 

26.  Hardouin,  Coneil.  Fleury,  Iliit.  Ecclet. 

seemed 


LET.  XXIX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  219 

seemed  inclining  to  Rodolph,  when  his  hand  was  cut  off 

by  the  famous  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  then  in  the  service  ot 

Henry,   and   afterwards   renowned   by    the    conquest  of 

Jerusalem.       Discouraged  by   the    misfortune   of  their 

chief,  the  rebels  immediately  gave  way  ;   and  Rodolph 

perceiving  his  end  approaching,   ordered   the  hand  that 

was  cut  off  to  be  brought  him,  and  made  a  speech  to  his 

officers  on  the  occasion,  which  could  not  fail  to  have  a 

favourable  influence  on  the  emperor's  affairs.   "  Behold," 

said  he,    "  the  hand  with  which  I  took  the  oath  of  alle- 

*'  giance  to  Henry  ;  an  oath,  which  at  the  instigation  of 

"  Rome,   I  have  violated,  in  perfidiously   aspiring  to  an 

"  honour  that  was  not  my  due^^." 

The  emperor,  thus   delivered    from   his   formidable 

antagonist,    soon    dispersed  the  rest  of  his  enemies  in 

Germany,    and    set    out    for    Italy,    in   order  to    settle 

Clement  III.  in   the    papal    chair.     But  the  .^„. 

rn  ,    .         [   '         •        V-       u  A.D. 1031. 

gates  oi  Rome  bemg  shut  agamst  him,  he  was 

obliged  to  attack  it  in  form.  The  siege  continued  up- 
wards of  two  years  ;  Henry,  during  that  time,  being 
obliged  to  quell  some  insurrections  in  Germany.  The 
city  was  at  length  carried  by  assault,  and  with  difficulty 
saved  from  being  pillaged  ;  but  Gregory  was  not  taken  : 
he  retired  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  thence  de- 
fied and  excommunicated  the  conqueror. 

The  new  pope  was  however  consecrated  with   the 

usual  ceremonies,  and  expressed  his  eratitude  .^„. 

.  •        Tj  -1-1  pA.D.  1084. 

by  crownmg  Henry,   with  the  concurrence  or 

the  Roman  senate  and  people.      Meanwhile  the  siege  of 

St.  Angelo  was  going  on  ;  but  the  emperor  being  called 

about  some  affairs  into  Lombardy,  Robert  Guiscard  took 

advantage  of  his  absence  to  release  Gregory,  rnss 

who  died  soon   after  at  Salerno.      His   last 

words,  borrowed  from  the  scripture,  were  worthy  of  the 

greatest  saint :  "  I  have  loved  justice,  and  hated  iniquity  : 

*'  therefore  I  die  in  exile^^  I" 

27.  Cbron.  Ma^dcb.       28.  Vit.  Greg.  VII.     Murat    ubi  sup. 

Henrv 


220  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paiit  i. 

Henry  did  not  long  enjoy  the  successes  of  his  Italian 
expedition,  or  that  tranquillity  which  nfiight  have  been 
expected  from  the  death  of  Gregory.  Germany  was 
involved  in  new  troubled  :  thither  he  hastened  with  all  ex- 
pedition. The  Saxons,  his  old  enemies,  had  elected  a 
king  of  the  Romans,  whom  he  defeated  in  several  en- 
gagements, and  whose  blood  atoned  for  his  presumption. 
Another  pretender  shared  the  same  fate.  Every  thing 
yielded  to  the  emperor's  valour. 

But  while  Henry  was  thus  victorious  in  Germany, 
his  enemies  were  busy  in  embroiling  his  affairs  in  Italy, 
into  which  he  found  it  necessary  again  to  march.  Not 
satisfied  with  Clement  III.  the  emperor's 
pope,  they  had  elected  the  abbot  of  Monte 
Cassino,  under  the  name  of  Victor  III.  and  he  dying  in 
a  short  time,  they  chose  in  his  room  Urban  II.  who,  in 
conjunction  with  the  countess  Matilda,  seduced  the  em- 
peror's son,  Conrad,  into  a  rebellion  against  his  father. 
— It  was  this  Urban  who  held  the  famous  council  of 
Clermont,  of  which  I  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to 
speak,  and  where  the  first  crusade  was  resolved  upon. 

Conrad  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Italy,  and  was  ac- 
tually  crowned  by  Anselmo,  archbishop  of 
'Milan.  Soon  after  this  ceremony,  he  married 
the  daughter  of  Roger,  king  of  Sicily  ;  and  succeeded  so 
well  in  his  usurpation,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Italian 
cities  and  nobles  acknowledged  him  as  their  sovereign. 
The  emperor,  therefore,  despairing  of  being  able  to  re- 
duce his  son  to  obedience,  returned  to  Germany  ;  where 
he  assembled  the  princes,  who  put  Conrad  to  the  ban  of 
the  empire,  and  declared  his  brother  Henry 

A.  D.  1099.  ,  .  r      1-       r.  A  W 

kmg  of  the  Romans.  An  accommodation 
was  made  with  the  Saxons  and  Bavarians,  and  the  em- 
peror hoped  to  spend  the  latter  part  of  his  life  in  peace. 

In  the  mean  time  Conrad  died  ;  and  Pascal  II. 
another  Hildebrand,  succeeded  Urban  in  the  see  of 
Rome.     This  pope  no  sooner  found  himself  safely  seated 

29.  Chro7i.  Magdeb. 

in 


LET.  XXII.]         MODERN   EUROPE.  221 

in  the  papal  chair,   than  he  called  a  council,  to  which  he 

summoned  the  emperor  :  and  as  Henry  did  not 

u        .u       •      •       \-  •        'i  1  ■  A-D.  1101. 

obey   the  citation  he  excommunicated  him  a- 

new  for  the  schisms  which  he  had  introduced  into  the 
church.  But  that  vengeance,  though  sufficiently  severe, 
was  gentle,  in  comparison  of  what  Pascal  meditated  and 
accomplished.  He  excited  young  Henry  to  rebel  against 
his  father,  under  pretence  of  defending  the  cause  of  the 
orthodox ;  alleging,  that  he  was  bound  to  take  upon 
himself  the  reins  of  government,  as  he  could  neither  ac- 
knowledge a  king  nor  a  father  that  was  excommunicat- 
ed. ^^ 

In  vain  did  the  emperor  use  every  paternal  re- 
monstrance to  dissuade  his  son  from  proceeding  to  ex- 
tremities :  the  breach  became  wider  and  wider,  and 
both  prepared  for  the  decision  of  the  sAvord.  But  the  son 
dreading  his  father's  military  superiority,  and  confiding 
in  his  tenderness,  made  use  of  a  stratagem  equally  base 
and  effectual.  He  threw  himself  unexpectedly  at  the 
emperor's  feet,  and  begjred  pardon  for  his  undutiful  be- 
haviour, which  he  imputed  to  the  advice  of  evil  coun- 
sellors. In  consequence  of  this  submission,  he  was  im-- 
mediately  taken  into  favour,  and  the  emperor  dismissed 
his  army.  The  ungrateful  youth  now  bared  his  perfidious 
heart :  he  ordered  his  father  to  be  confined  j  while  he 
assembled  a  diet  of  his  own  confederates,  at  which  the 
pope's  legate  presided,  and  repeated  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  the  emperor  Henrv  IV.  ^ ,  ^- 
who  was  instantly  deposed,  and  the  paracidious 
usurper  Henry  V.  proclaimed^'. 

The  archbishops  of  Mentz  and  Cologne  were  sent 
as  deputies  to  the  old  emperor,  to  intimate  his  deposi- 
tion, and  demand  the  crown  and  other  regalia.  Henry 
received  this  deputation  with  equal  surprize  and  con- 
cern ;  and  finding  the  chief  accusation  against  him  was, 
"  the  scandalous  manner  in  which  he  had  setbishopricks 

SO.  Dithmar.   Nht.  Bell,  inter  Imp.  et  Sacerdot.     31.  Id.  ibid. 

"  to 


222  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

*'  to  sale,"  he  thus  addressed  the  audacious  ecclesias- 
tics :  "  If  we  have  prostituted  the  benefices  of  the 
"  church  for  hire,  you  yourselves  are  the  most  proper 
*'  persons  to  convict  us  of  that  simony.  Say  then,  I 
"  conjure  you,  in  the  name  of  the  eternal  God  !  what 
"  have  we  exacted,  or  what  have  we  received,  for  having 
*'  promoted  you  to  the  dignities  which  you  now  enjoy  ?" 
They  acknowledged  he  was  innocent,  as  far  as  regarded 
their  preferment  : — "  and  yet,"  continued  he,  "  the 
"  archbishopricks  of  Mentz  and  Cologne  being  two  of 
"  the  best  in  our  gift,  we  might  have  filled  our  coffers 
"  by  exposing  them  to  sale.  We  bestowed  them,  how- 
"  ever,  on  you,  out  of  free  grace  and  favour  ; — and  a  wor- 
'*  thy  return  you  make  to  our  benevolence  ! — Do  not,  we 
"  beseech  you,  become  abettors  of  those  who  have 
*'  lifted  up  their  hand  against  their  lord  and  master,  in 
"  defiance  of  faith,  gratitude,  and  allegiance." 

The  two  archbishops,  unmoved  by  that  pathetic 
address,  injsisted  on  his  compliance  with  the  purport  of 
their  errand.  On  this  he  retired,  and  put  on  his  royal 
ornaments  ;  then  returning  to  the  apartment  he  had  left, 
and  seating  himself  on  a  chair  of  state,  he  renewed  his 
remonstrance  in  these  words  :  "  Here  are  the  marks  of 
"  that  royalty  with  which  we  were  invested  by  God  and 
*'  the  princes  of  the  empire  ;  if  you  disregard  the  wrath 
"  of  Heaven,  and  the  eternal  reproach  of  mankind,  so 
*'  much  as  to  lay  violent  hands  on  your  sovereign,  you 
*'  may  strip  us  of  them.  We  are  not  in  a  condition  to 
**■  defend  ourselves." 

This  speech  had  no  more  effect  than  the  former 
upon  the  unfeeling  prelates,  who  instantly  snatched 
the  crown  from  his  head  ;  and  dragging  him  from  his 
chair,  pulled  off  his  royal  robes  by  force.  While  they 
were  thus  employed,  Henry  exclaimed,  "  Great  God  !" 
— the  tears  trickled  down  his  venerable  cheeks — "  thou 
"  art  the  God  of  vengc::nce,  and  wilt  repay  this  outrage. 


"  I  have 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  223 

**  I  have  sinned,  I  own,  and  merited  such  shame  by  the 
*'  follies  of  my  youth  ;  but  thou  wilt  not  fail  to  punish 
"  those  traitors,  for  their  perjury,  insolence,  and  ingra- 
"  titude^2." 

To  such  a  degree  of  wretchedness  was  this  unhappy 
prince  reduced  by  the  barbarity  of  his  son,  that,  destitute 
of  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  he  intreated  Gertard, 
bishop  of  Spire,  whom  he  had  created,  to  grant  him  a 
canonicate  for  his  subsistence  ;  representing  that  he  was 
capable  of  performing  the  office  of  "  chanter  or  reader  1" 
Being  denied  that  humble  request,  he  shed  a  flood 
of  tears,  and  turning  to  those  who  were  present,  said, 
with  a  deep  sigh,  "  My  dear  friends,  at  least  have  pity  on 
*'  my  condition,  for  I  am  touched  by  the  hand  of  the 
"  Lord33!" — The  hand  of  man,  at  least,  was  heavy  up- 
on him  for  he  was  not  only  in  want,  but  under  confine- 
ment. 

In   the  midst  of  these    distresses,    when  every  one 
thought    his  courage   was  utterly   extinguished,  and  his 
soul  overwhelmed  by  despondence,  Henr)^  found  means 
to  escape  from  his  keepers,  and  reached  Cologne,  where 
he  was  recognized  as  lawful  emperor.    He  next  repaired 
to    the    Low  Countries,   where   he   found   friends,  who 
raised   a   considerable   body  of  troops    to  facilitate  his 
restoration  ;   and  he  sent  circular  letters  to  all  the  princes 
of  Christendom,  in  order  to  interest  them  in  his  cause. 
He  even  wrote  to  the  pope,    giving  him  to  understand, 
that  he  was  inclined  to  an  accommodation,  provided  it 
could  be  settled  without  prejudice  to  his  crown.      But  be- 
fore  any  thing  material  could  be    executed  in 
Henry's  favour,    he  died  at  Liege,  in  the  fifty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age,    and  the  forty-ninth  of  his  reign. 
He  was  a  prince  of  great  courage,  and  excellent  endow- 
ments   both  of  body  and  mind.       There    was  an  air  of 
dignity  in  his  appearance  that  spoke  the  greatness  of  his 
soul.      He    possessed   a   natural   fund  of  eloquence  and 

32.  Dithmar,  ubi  sup.     Heiss,  ii,  csp.  ix.       33.  Id.  ibid. 

vivacity ; 


224  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

vivacity  ;  was  of  a  mild  and  merciful  temper  ;  extremely 
charitable  ;  and  an  admirable  pattern  of  fortitude  and 
resignation^''. 

Henry  V.  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  his  barbarous, 
unnatural,  and  hypocritical  conduct,  by  causing  his  fa- 
ther's body,  as  the  carcase  of  an  excommunicated  wretch^ 
to  be  dug  out  of  the  grave  where  it  was  buried,  in  the 
cathedral  of  Liege,  and  be  carried  to  a  cave  at  Spire^^.  But 
notwithstanding  his  obligations  and  seeming  attachment 
to  the  church,  this  paracidious  zealot  no  sooner  found 
himself  established  upon  the  imperial  throne,  than  he 
maintained  that  right  of  investiture,  in  opposition  to 
which  he  had  taken  arms  against  his  father,  and  the  exer- 
cise of  which  was  thought  to  merit  anathemas  so  fright- 
ful as  to  disturb  the  sacred  mansions  of  the  dead. 

In  order  to  terminate  that  old  dispute,  Henry  invited 
the  pope  into  Germany.  But  Pascal,  who  v/as  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  emperor's  haughty  and  implacable  dis- 
position, thought  proper  to  take  a  different  route,  and 
put  himself  under  the  protection  of  Philip  I.  king  of 
France,  who  undertook  to  mediate  an  accommodation 
between  the  empire  and  the  holy  see.  A  conference  was 
accordingly  held  at  Chalons,  in  Champagne,  but  without 
effect. 

After  this    unsuccessful  meeting,    the   pope  held   a 

, ,  ^^  council  at  Troves,  and  Henry  convoked  a  diet 
A.D.I  107^.  J      '  J 

'at  Mentz  :  the  first  supported  Pascal's  pre- 
tensions, and  the  last  declared  for  the  emperor's  right 
of  investiture.  But  more  weighty  affairs  demanding 
Henry's  attention,  the  dispute  was  laid  aside  for  a  time. 
He  was  engaged  for  several  years  in  wars  with  Hungary 
and  Poland,  which  ended  in  the  weariness  of  all  parties, 
and  left  things  nearly  as  at  the  beginning. 

When  tired  of  fighting,  Henry  thought  of  disputing  : 
he  was   desirous  of  settling  his  contest  with  the  pope  ; 

oi.  Gob.  Pers.    I-eo  Osilens.  Cbron.  Ma^Jeb.      35.  Jnnal.  de  I'Emp. 
torn.  i. 

and, 


3LET.  XXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  225 

and,  lest  force  should  be  necessary,  he  entered 
Italy  with  an  army  of  eighty-thousand  men. 
Pascal  received  him  with  the  greatest  appearance  of  cor- 
diality, but  would  not  renounce  the  claim  of  investitures  j 
and  Henry,  finding  himself  deceived  in  his  expectations, 
ordered  the  pope  to  be  seized.  1  he  consul  put  the  citi- 
zens in  arms,  and  a  battle  was  fought  within  the  walls  of 
Rome.  The  Romans  were  defeated  ;  and  the  carnage 
was  so  great,  that  the  waters  of  the  Tiber  were  stained 
with  blood.  Pascal  was  taken  prisoner,  and  became  less 
inflexible.  He  crowned  Henry,  and  confirmed  him  in 
the  right  of  investiture  ;  dividing  the  host  with  him,  at 
the  same  time,  in  token  of  perfect  reconciliation,  and  pro- 
nouncing the  following  anathema  :  "  As  this  part  of  the 
vivifying  body,"  breaking  it,  "  is  separated  from  the 
"  other,  let  him  of  us  two,  who  shall  infringe  the  treaty, 
*'  be  separated  from  the  kingdom  of  Christ-''!" 

But  Henry  had  no  sooner  left  Italy  than  it  appeared 
that  the  coiu-t  of  Rome  was  by  no  means  sincere  in  the 
concessions  it  had  made  ;  for  although  Pascal  himself 
still  preserved  the  exteriors  of  friendship  and 

•  •  A    D     1 1 12 

good  faith,  a  council  of  the  Lateran,  called  by  *  * 
him,  set  aside  the  bull  touching  the  investiture  of  be- 
nefices, and  ordered  the  emperor  to  be  excommunicated. 
The  clergy  every  where  attempted  to  fill  the  vacant  sees, 
and  the  whole  empire  was  again  involved  in  trouble  and 
dissention. 

A  rebellion  broke  out  in  Saxony,    which  Henry  was 
enabled  to  quell  by  the  valour  of  his  nephew, 
Frederick  duke  of  Suabia  and  Alsace,   whom'^*  ^* 
he  promoted  to  the  supreme  command  of  his  army.     In 
the  meantime  the  countess  Matilda  dying,  the  emperor, 
as  her  nearest  relation,  claimed  the  succession, 
notwithstanding  the  steps  she  had  taken  in  fa-^'  ^*  •^^^•'* 
vour  of  the  holy  see,    alledging   that  it  was    not  in  her 
power  to  alienate  her  estates,  which  depended  imme- 

■16.  Chro)u  Abb.  St.  Tetri  «3ft  Eurgo.  Padre  Paolo,  BcneJ.  £ccles. 
VOL.  I.  L I  diatciv 


225  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

dlatel}^  upon  the  empire.  He  therefore  set  out  for 
Lombai'dy,  and  sent  ambassadois  to  Rome,  beseeching 
the  pope  to  revoke  the  sentence  of  excommunication, 
which  had  been  fulminated  against  him,  expressly  con- 
trary to  their  last  agreement. 

Pascal  would  not  so  much  as  favour  the  ambassadors 

with  an  audience  ;  but  convoked  a  council,  in  which  his 

_  ^  ^  ^  treaty    with  the  emperor,  was  a  second  time 

A.   D.    1116.  /  ,         T  11.  TT 

condemned,  incensed  at  such  arrogance,  Hen- 
ry advanced  tov/ards  Rome,  determined  to  make  his 
auth.irity  respected  :  and  the  pope,  well  acquainted  with 
his  inflexible  disposition,  took  shelter  among  the  Norman 
princes  in  Apulia,  the  new  vassals  and  protectors  of  the 
church. 

The  emperor  entered  Rome  in  triumph,    and  was 

^  crowned   a   second   time  by  Bardinus,   arch- 

'  'bishop  of  Prague,  who  attended  him  in  this 

expedition.      But  Henry's  presence  being  necessary  in 

Tuscany,   Pascal  privately  returned  to  Rome,  where  he 

died  in  a  few  days  ;  and  on  the  thiixi  day  after 

'his  decease,  cardinal  Cajetan  was  elected  his 

successor,  without  the  privity  of  the  emperor,  under  the 

name  of  Gelasius  II. 

Enraged  at  this  presumption,  Henry  declared  the 
election  of  Gelasius  void,  and  appointed  in  his  place  Bar- 
dinus, who  assumed  the  name  of  Gregory  VIII.  revoked 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  the  emperor, 
and  confirmed  his  right  of  investiture.  Gelasius,  though 
supported  by  the  Norman  princes,  was  obliged  to  take 
refup-e  in  France,  where  he  died;  and  the  arch- 
"'bisop  of  Vienna  was  elected  in  his  room  by  the 
cardinals  then  present,  under  the  name  of  Calixtus  II. 

Calixtus  attempted  an  accommodation  with  Henry  ; 
which  not  succeeding,  he  called  a  council,  and  again  ex- 
communicated the  emperor,  the  anti-pope,  and 
A.  15.  I  'their  adherents.  He  next  set  out  for  Rome, 
where  he  was  honourably  received,  and  Gregory  VIII. 
retired    to    Sutri,    a   strong  toiv'u,    garrisoned   by    the 

emperor's 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  227 

eropcror's  troops.  They  were  not,  however,  able  to  pro- 
tect him  from  the  fury  of  his  rival.  Calixtus,  assisted 
by  the  Norman  princes,  besieged  Sutri ;  and  the  inhabit- 
ants, afraid  of  the  consequences,  delivered  up  Gregory, 
who  was  mounted,  by  his  competitor,  upon  a  camel,  with 
his  face  towards  the  tail,  and  conducted  through  the 
streets  of  R  ome,  amid  the  scoffs  and  insult  of  the 
populace,  as  a  prelude  to  his  confmement  for  life^". 

In  the  mean  time  the  states  of  the  empire,  quite  tired 
with  this  long  quarrel  between  the  popes  and  the  em- 
perors, unanimously  supplicated  Henry  for  peace.  He 
referred   himself  entirely  to  their  decision  :   and  a  diet 

being  assembled  at  Worms,  it    was   decreed,  ^  ^  ^^ 

°  .  .  A.D. 1 122. 

that  an  embassy   should   immediately  be  sent* 

to  the  pope,  desiring  that  he  would  convoke  a  general 
council  at  Rome,  by  which  all  disputes  might  be  deter- 
mined. Calixtus  accordingly  called  the  famous  council, 
which  was  opened  during  Lent,  and  at  which  were  present 
three  hundred  bishops,  and  about  seven  hundred  abbots. 
The  imperial  ambassadors  being  heard  before  this 
grand  assembly,  the  affair  of  investitures  was  at  length 
settled,  with  their  consent,  on  the  following  conditions: — 
"  That,  for  the  future,  the  bishops  and  abbots  shall  be 
"  chosen  by  the  monks  and  cannons  ;  but  that  this  elec- 
*'  tion  shall  be  made  in  presence  of  the  emperor,  or 
"  of  an  ambassador  appointed  by  him  for  that  purpose  : 
"  that,  in  case  a  dispute  arise  among  the  electors,  the 
"  decision  of  it  shall  be  left  to  the  emperor,  who  is  to 
"  consult  with  the  bishops  on  that  subject ;  that  the 
"  bishop  or  abbot  elect  shall  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
"  the  emperor,  receive  from  his  hand  the  regalia^  and 
"  do  homage  for  them  ;  that  the  emperors  shall  no  longer 
"  confer  the  regalia  by  the  ceremony  of  the  ring  and 
*'  cros/er,  which  are  the  cnsig7is  of  a  ghostly  dignity,  but 
'^  by    that  of  the  sceptre,    as    more    proper  to   invest  the 

37.  Dithmar.  HUt.  Bdl.  inicr  h:  p   et  Sacerdot, 

"  person 


228  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

*'  person  elected  in  the  possession  of  rights  znd  privileges 
"  merely   temporal''".^'' 

Thus,  in  substituting  the  sceptre  for  the  ri?ig  and 
crosier,  ended  one  of  the  most  bloody  quarrels  that  ever 
desolated  Christendom.  But,  as  no  mention  had  been 
made  in  this  accommodation,  of  the  emperor's  right  to 
create  popes,  or  to  intermeddle  in  their  election,  Calix- 
^     ^  tus  was  no   sooner  dead   than  the   cardinals, 

A    D.  1  IS-i 

'clergy,  and  people  of  Rome,  without  the  par- 
ticipation of  Henrv',  proceeded  to  a  new  election,  which 
was  carried  on  with  so  much  disorder,  that  two  persons 
were  elected  at  the  same  time  ;  Theobald,  called  Celestin, 
and  Lambert,  bishop  of  Ostia,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Honorius  II.  Honorius  was  confirmed  in  the  papacy, 
on  the  voluntary  resignation  of  his  competitor. 

Henry  died  at  Utrecht  a  few  years  after  his  accom- 
modation with  Rome.  He  was  a  wise,  politic, 
*and,  resolute  prince ;  and  exclusive  of  his  un- 
natural behaviour  to  his  father,  was  worthy  of  the  impe- 
rial throne.  He  married  Maud,  or  Matilda,  daughter  of 
Henrv  I.  king  of  England,  by  whom  he  had  no  children; 
so  that  the  empire  was  left  without  a  head. — But  a 
variet)'  of  objects  demand  your  attention,  before  I  cany 
farther  the  affairs  of  Germany. 

o8.  Padre  Paolo,  ubi  sub.     Schilter  de  Ubertat.   Xceles.    German,  lib.  iv 


LETTER 


LET.  XXIII.]       MODERN  EUROPE.  TZ9 


LETTER  XXIII. 

ENGLAND,  FROM  THE  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS,  TO  THF  DF.ATH 
OF  HENRY  I. 

X  OU  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  William, 
duke  of  Normandy,  victorious  at  Hastings.  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  astonishment  of  the  English  nation, 
when  made  acquainted  with  the  issue  of  that 
*  unfortunate  battle — with  the  death  of  their 
king,  and  the  slaughter  of  their  principal  nobility.  And 
William,  in  order  to  terminate  an  enterprise,  which  he 
knew  celerity  and  vigour  only  could  render  finally  suc- 
cessful, instantly  put  his  army  in  motion,  and  advanced 
by  forced  marches  to  London.  His  approach  increased 
the  general  alarm,  and  the  divisions  already  prevalent  in 
the  English  councils.  The  superior  clergy,  who  even 
then  were  mostly  French  or  Normans,  began  to  declare  in 
his  favour ;  and  the  pope's  bull,  by  which  his  undertaking 
was  avowed  and  consecrated,  was  now  offered  as  a  rea- 
son for  general  submission. 

Other  causes  rendered  it  difficult  for  the  English 
nation,  destitute  as  it  was  of  a  head,  to  defend  their  liber- 
ties in  this  critical  emergency.  The  body  of  thepeople 
had,  in  a  great  measure,  lost  their  ancient  pride  and 
independent  spirit,  by  their  recent  and  long  subjection  to 
the  Danes  ;  and  as  Canute  had,  In  the  course  of  his 
administration,  much  abated  the  rigours  of  conquest,  and 
governed  them  equitably  by  their  own  laws,  they  regarded 
with  less  terror  a  foreign  sovereign  ;  and  deemed  the  in- 
conveniencies  of  admitting  the  pretensions  of  William 
lessdreadful  than  those  of  bloodshed,  war,and  resistance. 
A  repulse,  which  a  party  of  Londoners  received  from 
five  hundred  Norman  horse,  renewed  the  terror  of  the 
great  defeat  at  Hastings  :  the  easy  submission  of  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Kent,  was  an  additional  discouragement  to 
them  ;    and  the  burning  of  Soulhv/ark  before  their  eves, 

made 


S50  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

made  the  citizens  of  London  dread  a  like  fate  for  their 
capital.  Few  men  longer  entertained  any  thoughts  but 
of  immediate  safety  and  self-preservation. 

Stigand,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  met  the  conqueror 
at  Barkhamstead,  and,  made  submissions  to  him:  and  be- 
fore he  reached  London,  all  the  chief  nobility,  withthe 
weak  Edgar  Atheling,  their  lawful  but  deservedly  neg- 
lected prince,  came  into  William's  camp,  and  declared 
their  intention  of  yielding  to  his  authority.  They  request- 
ed him  to  accept  the  crown,  which  they  now  considered 
as  vacant;  and  orders  were  immediately  issued  to  prepare, 
every  thing  for  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation.  It  was 
accordingly  performed  in  Westminster-abbey^  in  presence 
of  the  most  considerable  nobility  and  gentry,  both  Eng- 
lish and  Norman,  with  seeming  satisfaction  .  This  ap- 
pearance of  satisfaction,  on  the  part  of  the  former,  if  it 
contained  any  sincerity,  must  have  been  the  effect  of  the 
conciliating  manner  in  which  the  coronation  ceremony 
was  conducted.  The  duke  of  Normandy  took  the  usual 
oath  administered  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  at  their 
inauguration  ;  namely,  *'  to  preserve  inviolate  the  con- 
*'  stitution,  and  govern  according  to  the  laws,"  before 
the  crown  was  placed  upon  his  head,  and  after  the  con- 
sent of  all  present  had  been  asked  and  obtained'. 

William  thus  possessed  of  the  throne,  by  a  pretend- 
,^^^    ed   will   of  king  Edward,  and   an  irregular 

A.  D    1067  o  '  o 

election  of  the  people,  abetted    by  force  of 
arms,   retired  to  Barking  in  Essex;    where  he  received 

1.  Gul.  Pictav.    Ordei-ic  Vital. 

2.  Ibid.  Aware  that  such  an  oath  would  be  demanded,  and  conscious 
that  he  must  either  violate  it  or  relinquish  the  right  of  conquest,  William 
is  said  to  have  hesitated  whether  he  should  accept  the  offer  of  the  English 
crown fiom  the  nobility  and  clergy,  or  owe  it  solely  to  the  sword.  Rut 
his  most  experienced  captains  advised  him  to  moderatij  his  ambition  ;  sen- 
sible that  the  people  of  England,  when  they  saw  they  had  to  contend  for 
their  free  constitution,  and  not  merely  for  the  person  who  should  adminis. 
tcr  their  government,  would  fight  with  double  fury  (Gul.  Pictav.)  when 
they  found  that  their  dearest  interests,  their  liberty  and  property  wer^ 
at  stake. 

the 


,LET.  XXIII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  231 

the  submissions  of  all  the  nobility,  who  had  not  attended 
his  coronation,  and  whom  he  generally  confirmed  in  the 
possession  of  their  lands  and  dignities,  forfeiting  only 
the  estates  of  Harold,  and  those  of  his  most  active 
adherents.  Every  thing  v/ore  the  appearance  of  peace 
and  tranquillity.  The  new  sovereign  seemed  solicitous  to 
unite,  in  an  amicable  manner,  the  English  and  Normans, 
by  intermarriages  and  alliances  ;  and  all  his  subjects, 
who  approached  his  person,  were  received  with  affa- 
bility and  respect.  No  signs  of  suspicion  appeared  evea 
in  regard  to  Edgar  Atheling,  the  natural  heir  to  the 
crown.  On  the  contrary,  the  king  confirmed  him  in  the 
honours  of  earl  of  Oxford,  conferred  on  him  by  Harold, 
and  affected  on  all  occasions  to  treat  him  with  the  greatest 
kindness,  as  nephew  to  the  Confessor,  his  friend  and 
benefactor.  He  dso  confirmed  the  liberties  and  immu- 
nities of  London,  and  all  the  other  cities  of  England  j 
and  seemed,  in  a  word,  desirous  of  resting  every  thing 
on  ancient  foundations.  In  his  whole  administration  he 
bore  the  semblance  of  the  lawful  prince,  not  of  the  con- 
queror ;  so  that  the  English  began  to  flatter  themselves 
they  had  only  changed  the  succession  of  their  sovereigns, 
a  matter  which  gave  them  Itttle  concern,  without  injury  to 
the  form  of  their  government. 

But  William,  notwithstanding  this  seeming  confidence 
and  friendship,  which  he  expressed  for  his  English  sub- 
jects, took  care  to  place  all  real  power  in  the  hands  of 
the  Normans,  and  still  to  keep  possession  of  that  sword 
to  which  he  eventually  owed  his  crown.  He  every  where 
disarmed  the  inhabitants:  he  built  fortresses  in  all  the 
principal  cities,  where  he  quartered  Norman  soldiers: 
he  bestowed  the  forfeited  estates  on  the  most  powerful 
of  his  captains,  and  he  established  funds  for  the  payment 
of  his  troops.  While  his  civil  administration  wore  the 
face  of  the  legal  magistrate,  his  military  isstitutions  wore 
that  of  a  master  and  a  tyrant.  And,  by  this  mixture  of 
rigour  and  lenity,  he  so  subdued  and  composed  the  minds 

of 


232  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

of  the  people  of  England,  that  he  ventured  to  visit  his 
native  country  within  six  months  after  he  had  left  it^ 

Various  reasons  have  been  assigned  by  historians  for 
this  extraordinary  journey;  for  extraordinary  it  certainly 
was  in  William,  as  Normandy  remained  in  perfect  tran- 
quillity, to  absent  himself  so  soon  after  the  submission 
of  a  great,  warlike,  and  turbulent  nation.  Some  have 
ascribed  it  to  ostentatious  vanity,  which  made  him  im- 
patient to  display  his  pomp  and  magnificence  among  his 
ancient  courtiers;  while  others,  supposing  him  incapable 
of  such  weakness,  affirm,  that  in  this  step,  anparently 
so  extravagant,  he  was  guided  by  a  concealed  policy; 
that  finding  he  could  neither  satisfy  his  rapacious  captains, 
nor  secure  his  unstable  government,  without  seizing  the 
possessions  of  the  English  nobility  and  gentry,  he  left 
them  to  the  mercy  of  an  insolent  and  licentious  army  in 
order  to  try  their  spirit,  to  provoke  them  to  rebellion, 
and  to  give  a  colour  to  his  intended  usurpations.  For 
my  own  part,  I  can  see  no  reason  why  William,  solid 
as  his  genius  was,  may  not  have  been  influenced  by  both 
these  motives  in  undertaking  his  journey  to  Normandy. 
But,  whatever  was  the  cause,  the  effect  is  certain  j  the 
English  nobility  and  gentry  revolted  in  consequence  of 
the  king's  absence;  and  he  thenceforth  either  embraced, 
or  was  more  fully  confirmed  in  the  resolution  of  seizing 
their  lands,  and  of  reducing  them  to  the  most  abject 
condition. 

But  although  the  natural  violence  and  austerity  of 
"William's  temper  made  him  incapable  of  feeling  any 
scruples  in  the  execution  of  his  tyrannical  purpose,  he 
had  art  enough  to  conceal  his  intention,  and  still  to 
preserve  some  appearance  of  justice  in  his  oppressions. 
He  was  prevailed  on  to  pardon  the  rebels,  who  submit- 
ted themselves  to  his  mercy  ;  and  he  order- 
A.  D.  1068.  ^^^  ^^^  ^.g  English  subjects,  who  had  been 
arbitrarily  expelled  by  the  Normans  during  his  absence, 

3.  Ibid. 

tQ 


tET.  XXIII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  SS8 

to  be  restored  to  their  possessions.  The  public  discon- 
tents, however,  daily  increased;  and  the  injuries  com- 
mitted and  suffered  on  both  sides,  rendered  the  quarrel 
betv/een  the  victors  and  vanquished,  mortal.  The  inso- 
lence of  imperious  masters,  dispersed  throughout  the 
kingdom,  seemed  intolerable  to  the  natives,  who  took 
every  opportunity  to  gratify  their  vengeance  by  the 
private  slaughter  of  their  enemies.  Meanwhile  an 
insurrection  in  the  northern  counties  drew  general 
attention,  and  seemed  big  with  the  most  important 
events. 

Edwin  and  Morcar,  the  potent  earls  of  Mercla  and 
Northumberland,  were  the  conductors  of  this  attempt 
to  shake  off  the  Norman  yoke.  And  these  warlike 
noblemen,  before  they  took  arms,  had  stipulated  for 
aid  from  Blethin,  prince  of  North-Wales,  Malcolm, 
king  of  Scotland,  and  Sweyn,  king  of  Denmark.  Aware 
of  the  importance  of  celerity  in  crushing  a  rebellion, 
supported  by  such  powerful  leaders,  and  in  a  cause  so 
agreeable  to  the  wishes  of  the  body  of  the  people,  Wil- 
liam, who  had  always  his  troops  in  readiness,  marched 
noi'thward  with  speed  ;  and  reached  York  before  the 
hostile  chieftains  were  prepared  for  action,  or  had 
received  any  succours,  except  a  small  reinforcement 
from  Wales.  Edwin  and  Morcar,  therefore,  found  it 
necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the  clemency  of  the  king: 
and  their  adherents,  thus  deserted,  were  unable  to 
make  any  resistance.  But  the  treatment  of  the  chief- 
tains and  their  followers,  after  submission,  was  very 
different.  William  observed  religiously  the  terms-grant- 
ed to  the  former,  and  allowed  them  for  the  present  to 
keep  possession  of  their  estates;  but  he  extended  the 
rigour  of  his  confiscations  over  the  latter,  and  gave 
away  their  lands  to  his  foreign  adventurers,  whom 
he  planted  through  the  whole  country\ 

4.  Orderic  Vital.  Sim.  D«n«Iin. 

VOL.  I.  w  m  The 


234  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The  English  were  now  convinced  their  final  subjec- 
tion was  intended;  and  that,  instead  of  a  legal  sove- 
reign, whom  they  had  at  first  hoped  to  gain  by  their 
prompt  submission,  they  had  unwisely  surrendered 
themselves  to  a  master  and  a  tyrant.  The  early  confis- 
cation of  the  estates  of  Harold's  followers  seemed  ini- 
quitous, as  the  proprietors  had  never  sworn  fealty  to 
the  duke  of  Normandy,  and  fought  only  in  defence  of 
the  government  which  they  themselves  had  established 
in  their  own  country.  Yet  that  rigour,  how  contrary 
soever  to  the  spirit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  was  ex- 
cused on  account  of  the  urgent  necessities  of  the  victor: 
and  they  who  were  not  involved  in  those  forfeitures, 
hoped  to  enjoy  unmolested  their  possessions  and  their 
dignities.  But  the  subsequent  confiscation  of  so  many 
estates  convinced  them,  that  the  Norman  prince  intend- 
ed to  rely  solely,  for  the  maintenance  of  his  authority 
on  the  support  and  affection  of  foreigners.  And  they 
foresaw  new  forfeitures  and  attainders,  to  be  the  neces- 
sary consequences  of  this  destructive  plan  of  policy. 

Impressed  with  a  sense  of  their  dismal  situation, 
■many  Englishmen  fled  into  foreign  countries;  with  an 
intention  of  passing  their  lives  abroad,  free  from  oppres- 
sion, or  of  returning  on  a  favourable  opportunity,  to 
assist  their  friends  in  recovering  their  native  liberties. 
Edgar  Atheling  himself  dreading  the  insidious  caresses 
of  William,  made  his  escape  into  Scotland,  and  carried 
thither  his  two  sisters  Margaret  and  Christina.  They 
were  well  received  by  Malcolm  III.  then  king  of  that 
country,  who  soon  after  espoused  Margaret,  the  eldest 
sister:  and,  partly  with  a  view  of  strengthening  his 
kingdom  by  the  accession  of  so  many  strangers,  partly 
in  hopes  of  employing  them  against  the  growing  power 
of  William,  he  gave  great  countenance  to  all  the  English 
exiles'.  JVIany  of  them  settled  in  Scotland,  and  there 
laid  the  foundations  of  families,  v/hich  afterward  m.adc 
a  figure  in  that  kingdom. 

5.  M.  Paris,     R.  Hoveden. 

While 


LET.  XXIII.]       MODERN    EUROPE.  235 

While  the  people  of  England  laboured  under  those 

oppressions,   new  attempts  were  made  for  the  recovery 

of  their    liberties.      Godwin,   Edmond,    and    Magnusj 

three   sons   of  Harold,   had  sought  a  retreat  in  Ireland, 

after   the  defeat  at    Hastings  ;    and   having  met  with  a 

kind  reception  from  Dtrmot,  and  other  princes  of  that 

island,   they    projected    an    invasion    of   England,   and 

hoped  that  all  the  exiles  from  Denmark,  Scotland,  and 

Wales,    assisted  by  forces  from  these  several  countries, 

would    at   once    commence    hostilities,    and  rouse    the 

resentment  of  the  English  nation  against  their  haughty 

conquerors.     They   landed    in   Devonshire,  ^^^^ 

/•  ,  I       1  r    XT  J  A-  D.  1069. 

but   found    a    body   oi    JNormans    ready    to 

oppose  them;  and  being  defeated  in  several  rencounters, 

they  were   obliged  to  seek  shelter  in  their  ships,    and 

return  with  great  loss  into  Ireland. 

The  struggle,  however,  was  not  yet  over:  all  the 
north  of  England  was  soon  in  arms.  The  Northum- 
brians, impatient  of  servitude,  had  attacked  Robert  da 
Comyn,  governor  of  Durham,  and  put  him  and  seven, 
hundred  of  his  adherents  to  death.  This  example  ani- 
mated the  inhabitants  of  York,  who  slew  Robert  Fitz- 
Richard  their  governor,  and  besieged  in  the  castle 
William  Mallet,  on  whom  the  chief  command  had 
devolved.  About  the  same  time  the  Danish  succours 
were  landed  from  three  hundred  vessels,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Osberne,  brother  to  king  Sweyn,  accompanied, 
by  Harold  and  Canute,  two  sons  of  that  northern  mo- 
narch. Edgar  Atheling  also  appeared  from  Scotland, 
and  brought  along  with  him  a  number  of  English  noble- 
men, who  had  shared  his  exile,  and  who  easily  excited 
the  warlike  and  discontented  Northumbrians  to  a 
general  insurrection. 

In  order  more  effectually  to  provide  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  citadel  of  York,  Mallet  set  fire  to  some 
neighbouring  houses.  But  that  expedient  proved  fatal 
to  himself,  and  to  every  man  under  his  command.  The 
flames  spreading  into  the  adjacent  streets,  reduced  the 

whole 


230  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

whole  city  to  ashes;  and  the  enraged  inhabitants,  aided 
by  the  Danes,  took  advantage  of  the  confusion  to 
attack  the  fortress,  which  they  carried  by  assault,  and 
put  the  garrison,  amounting  to  three  thousand  men,  to 
the  sword.  This  success  served  as  a  signal  of  revolt 
to  many  other  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  English  every- 
where repenting  of  their  former  too  easy  submission, 
seemed  determined  to  make  one  great  effort  for  the 
recovery  of  their  liberty  and  the  expulsion  of  their 
oppressors'^. 

Undismayed  amid  that  scene  of  confusion,  William: 
assembled  his  forces,  and  animating  them  by  the  pros- 
pect of  new  confiscations  and  forfeitures,  marched 
against  the  insurgents  in  the  north,  whom  he  consi- 
dered as  most  formidable.  Not  chusing,  however,  to 
trust  entirely  to  force,  he  endeavoured  to  weaken  the 
rebels,  by  detaching  the  Danes  from  them.  And  he 
accordingly  prevailed  upon  Osberne,  by  large  presents^ 
and  the  liberty  of  plundering  the  sea-coast,  to  desert 
his  engagements.  Many  English  noblemen  in  despair, 
followed  the  unworthy  example,  made  submissions  to 
the  conqueror^  aud  were  taken  into  favour.  Malcolm, 
the  Scottish  king^  coming  too  late  to  support  his  con- 
federates,  was  obliged  to   retire  ;  so  that  the  Normans 

„  ^^^  found  themselves  once  more  undisputed  mas- 
».  A.  loro.  r    1      1  •      1  1-  ,         A  ,    1- 

tcrs  oi  tiie   kingdom.      Edgar  Athehng  and 

his  followers  again  sought  an  asylum  in  Scotland;  but 
despairing  of  success,  and  weary  of  a  fugitive  life,  that 
prince  afterwards  submitted  to  his  enemy,  and  was 
permitted  to  live  unmolested  in  England'. 

William's  seeming  clemency,  however,  proceeded 
only  from  political  considerations,  or  from  his  esteem  of 
individuals:  his  heart  was  hardened  against  all  compas- 
sion toward  the  English  as  a  people  ;  and  he  scrupled  no 
measure,  how  violent  soever,  which  seemed  requisite  to 
support  his  plan  of  tyrannical  administration.   Acquainted 

6.  Ord.  Vital.     Gu!.  Gcmet.  Sim.  Dunelm.     7.  Gul,  Gernet.  R,  Hove- 
i9i\. 

with 


f. 


ET.  xxiii.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  237 

with  the  restless  disposition  of  the  Northumbrians,  who 
had  begun  the  revolt,  and  determined  to  incapacitate  them 
from  ever  more  molesting  him,  he  issued  orders  for  laying- 
waste  that  fertile  countiy,  which,  to  the  extent  of  sixty 
miles,  lies  between  the  Humber  and  the  Tees^.  The 
houses  were  reduced  to  ashes  by  the  unfeeling  Normans; 
the  cattle  were  seized  and  driven  away  ;  the  instruments 
of  husbandry  were  destroyed  ;  and  the  inhabitants  were 
compelled  either  to  seek  a  subsistence  in  the  southern 
parts  of  Scotland,  or  to  perish  miserably  in  the  woods 
from  cold  and  hunger,  which  many  of  them  chose  rather 
to  do  than  abandon  their  native  soil.  The  lives  of  an 
hundred  thousand  persons  are  computed  to  have  been 
sacrificed  to  this  stroke  of  barbarous  policy'',  which,  by 
seeking  a  remedy  for  a  temporary  evil,  inflicted  a  lasting 
wound  on  the  power  and  populousness  of  the  nation. 

But  William  was  now  determined  to  proceed  to  ex- 
tremities against  all  the  natives  of  England,  and  to  reduce 
them  to  a  condition  in  which  they  should  be  no  longer 
formidable  to  his  government.  The  insurrections  and 
conspiracies,  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  had  in- 
volved the  bulk  of  the  landholders,  more  or  less,  in  the 
guilt  of  treason;  and  the  king  took  advantage  of  executing 
against  them,  with  the  utmost  rigour,  the  laws  of  forfei- 
ture and  attainder.  Their  lives  were  commonly  spared, 
but  their  estates  were  confiscated,  and  cither  annexed  to 
the  royal  domain,  or  conferred,  with  the  most  profuse 
bounty,  on  the  Normans  and  other  foreigners.  Against 
a  people  thus  devoted  to  destruction,  any  suspicion  served 
as  the  most  undoubted  proof  of  guilt.  It  was  crime  suf- 
ficient in  an  Englishman  to  be  opulent,  noble,  or  power- 
ful: and  the  policy  of  the  king  concurring  with  the 
rapacity  of  needy  adventurers,  produced  an  almost  total 
revolution  in  the  landed  property  of  the  kingdom.  An- 
cient and  honourable  families  were  reduced  to  beggary. 
The  nobles  were  every  where  treated  with  ignominy  and 

6.  Chron.  Zax.    W.  Malmes.     R.  Hoveden.     M.  Paris.  Sim.  Dunelm. 
5.  Order.  Vital. 

contempt: 


238  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

contempt :  they  had  the  mortification  to  see  their  castles 
and  manors  possessed  by  Normans  of  the  meanest  con- 
dition, and  to  find  themselves  excluded  from  every  road 
that  led  either  to  riches  or  preferment  ,q. 

Power  naturally  follows  property.  This  change  of 
landholders  alone,  therefore,  gave  great  security  to  the 
Norman  government.  But  William  also  took  care,  by 
the  new  institutions  that  he  established,  to  retain  forever 
the  military  authority  in  those  hands  which  had  enabled 
him  to  acquire  the  kingdom.  He  introduced  into  England 
the  feudal  polity,  which  he  found  established  in  France 
and  Normandy  ;  and  which,  during  that  age,  was  the 
foundation  both  of  the  stability  and  of  the  disorders  in 
most  of  the  monarchical  governments  of  Europe.  He 
divided  all  the  lands  of  England,  with  few  exceptions, 
beside  the  royal  domain,  into  baronies;  and  he  conferred 
these,  with  the  reservation  of  stated  services  and  pay- 
ments, on  the  most  considerable  of  his  followers.  The 
barons,  who  held  immediately  of  the  crown,  shared  out 
part  of  their  lands  to  other  foreigners,  who  were  denomi- 
nated knights  or  vassals,  and  Avho  paid  their  lord  the  same 
duty  and  submission,  in  peace  and  war,  which  he  owed 
to  his  sovereign.  None  of  the  native  English  were  admit- 
ted into  the  first  rank:  the  few,  who  retained  any  landed 
property,  were  therefore  glad  to  be  received  into  the 
second ;  and,  under  the  protection  of  some  powerful 
Norman,  to  load  themselves  and  their  posterity  with  a 
grievous  servitude,  for  estates  which  had  been  trans- 
mitted free  to  them  from  their  ancestors". 

10.  M.  West    Order.  Vital. 

11.  M.  West.  M.  Paris.  Bracton,  lib.  i.  cap.  11.  Fleta,  lib.  i.  cap* 
8.  The  proprietors  of  land,  under  the  Anglo-Saxon  princes,  were  on// 
subjected  to  three  obligations;  namely,  to  attend  the  king  with  their  fol_ 
lowers  in  military  expeditions,  to  assist  in  building  or  defending  the  royal 
castles, and  to  keep  the  highways  and  bridges  in  a  proper  state  of  repair 
(Hickesi,  Dhsertat.  Spelman,  Editjuicc,)  emphatically  called  the  three 
rvccisitjes,  as  they  certainly  Aveie  in  a  government  without  regular  troops, 
ai;d  almost  without  revenue. 

William's 


# 

1.ET.  xxiii.J         MODERN  EUROPE.  239 

William's  next  regulations  regarded  the  church.  He 
deposed  Stigand,  the  primate,  and  several  other  English 
bishops,  by  the  assistance  of  Ermonfroy,  the  pope's 
legate ;  and  as  it  was  a  fixed  maxim  in  this  reign,  as  well  as 
in  some  of  the  subsequent,  that  no  native  of  the  island 
should  ever  be  advanced  to  any  dignity,  ecclesiastical, 
civil,  or  military,  the  king  promoted  Lanfranc,  a  Milan- 
ese monk,  to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  That  prelate  profes- 
sed the  most  devoted  attachment  to  Rome,  which  thence- 
forth daily  increased  in  England,  tmd  became  very 
dangerous  to  some  of  William's  successors;  but  the 
arbitrary  power  of  the  Conqueror  over  the  English,  and 
his  extensive  authority  over  the  Normans,  kept  him  from 
feeling  any  inconveniencles  from  it.  He  retained  the  clei-- 
gy  in  great  subjection,  as  well  as  his  lay  subjects,  and 
would  allow  no  person  of  any  condition  or  character  to 
dispute  his  absolute  will  and  pleasure.  None  of  his  minis- 
ters or  barons,  whatever  might  be  their  offences,  could  be 
subjected  to  spiritual  censures,  until  his  consent  was 
obtained.  He  prohibited  his  people  to  acknowledge  any 
one  for  pope,  whom  he  himself  had  not  received;  and  he 
ordered,  that  all  ecclesiastical  canons,  voted  in  any  synod, 
should  be  submitted  to  him,  and  ratified  by  his  autho- 
rity, before  they  could  be  valid.  Even  bulls  or  letters 
from  Rome,  before  they  were  produced,  must  receive 
the  same  sanction.  And  when  the  imperious^  Gregory 
VII.  whom  we  have  seen  tyrannizing  over  kings  and 
emperors,  wrote  to  this  monarch,  requiring  him  to  fulfil 
his  promise  of  doing  homage  for  the  kingdom  of  England 
to  the  see  of  Rome,  and  to  send  him  over  that  tribute 
which  his  predecessors  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the 
vicar  of  Christ  (meaning  Peter'' s  Pence,  a  charitable  dona- 
tion of  the  Saxon  princes,  which  the  court  of  Rome,  as 
usual,  was  inclined  to  construe  into  a  badge  of  subjection 
acknowledged  by  the  kingdom),  William  coolly  replied, 
that  the  money  should  be  remitted  as  formerly,  but  that 
he  neither  had  promised  to  do  homage  to  Rome,  nor 
entertained  any  thoughts  of  imposing  that  servitude  on 

his 


340  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

his  kingdom.  Nay,  he  vrent  so  far  as  to  refuse  the  En- 
glish bishops  liberty  to  attend  a  general  council,  which 
Gregory  had  summoned  against  his  enemies'^. 

The  following  anecdote  shews,  in  a  still  stronger 
light,  the  contempt  of  this  prince  for  ecclesiastical 
dominion.  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  the  king's  mater- 
nal brother,  whom  he  had  created  earl  of  Kent,  and 
entrusted  with  a  great  share  of  power,  had  amassed 
immense  riches;  and,  agreeable  to  the  usual  progress 
of  human  wishes,  he  began  to  regard  his  present  emi- 
nence as  only  a  step  to  future  grandeur.  He  aspired 
at  nothing  less  than  the  papacy,  and  had  resolved  to 
transmit  all  his  wealth  to  Italy,  and  go  thither  in  person, 
accompanied  by  several  noblemen,  whom  he  had  per- 
suaded to  follow  his  example,  in  hopes  of  establishments 
Tinder  the  future  pope.  William,  from  whom  this  pro- 
ject had  been  carefully  concealed,  was  no  sooner  inform- 
ed of  it  than  he  accused  Odo  of  treason,  and  ordered 
him  to  be  arrested;  but  nobody  would  lay  hands  on  the 
bishop.  The  king  himself  was  therefore  obliged  to 
sei^e  him;  and  when  Odo  insisted,  that,  as  a  prelate, 
he  was  exempted  from  all  temporal  jurisdiction,  Wil- 
liam boldly  replied,  "  I  arrest  not  the  bishop ;  I  arrest 
"  the  earl  1"  and  accordingly  sent  him  prisoner  into  Nor- 
mandy, where  he  was  detained  in  custody,  during  this 
v/hole  reign,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  and 
menaces  of  Gregory' 3. 

But  the  English  had  the  cruel  mortification  to  find, 
that  their  king's  authority,  how  worthy  soever  of  a 
sovereign,  all  tended  to  their  oppression,  or  to  perpe- 
tuate their  subjection.  William  had  even  entertained 
the  difficult  project  of  totally  abolishing  their  language. 
He  ordered  the  English  youth  to  be  instructed  in  the 
French  tongue,  in  all  the  schools  throughout  the  king- 
dom. The  pleadings  in  the  supreme  couits  of  judica- 
ture were  in  French:  the  deeds  were  often  drawn  in 
tlie  same   language  ;   the    laws   were   composed   in  that 

•32/%.  Jjvra.  Eadmer.  Iiigulph.  Order.  Vital.      13.  Ibid. 

idiom 


^lET.  xxiii.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  241 

idiom.  No  other  tongue  was  used  at  court:  it  became 
the  language  of  all  fashionable  societies;  and  the  natives 
themselves  affected  to  excel  in  it'4.  To  this  attempt 
of  the  Conqueror,  and  to  the  foreign  dominions  so  long 
annexed  to  the  crown  of  England,  we  owe  that  predomi- 
nating mixture  of  French  at  present  to  be  found  in  our 
language. 

While  William  was  thus  Avantonly  exercising  his 
tyranny  over  England,  his  foreign  affairs  lell  into  dis- 
order; and  the  English  had  aii  opportunity  of  at  once 
recovering  their  military  character,  and  cf  taking  ven- 
geance on  part  of  their  foreign  oppressors.  Fulk,  count 
of  Anjou,  had  seized  on  the  province  of  Maine,  which 
had  fallen  under  the  dominion  of  the  duke  of  Normandy, 

by  the  will  of  Herbert,  the  last  count.      But  ^^^  , 

,:'.„.  ,        ,  .  f  ,  .  ,      A.  D.  1073. 

William,   by  the  assistance    ot  his  new  sub- 
jects,  soon  obliged   the  inhabitants,  who  had  revolted, 
to    return  to    their    duty,    and  the   count   of  Anjou  to 
renounce  his  pretensions'''. 

The  king  now  passed  some  years  in  Normandy; 
where  his  presence  was  become  necessary  on  account 
of  the  turbulent  disposition  of  his  son  Robert,  wht' 
openly  aspired  at  independency,  and  claim 
ed  the  duchies  of  Normandy  and  Main,  du- 
ring his  father's  life-time.  William  gave  him  a  positive 
refusal,  repeating  that  homely  saying,  that  he  never 
intended  to  throw  off  his  clothes  till  he  went  to  bed. 
He  accordingly  called  over  an  army  of  Englishmen, 
under  his  ancient  captains,  who  bravely  expelled  Robert 
and  his  adherents.  The  prince  took  shelter  in  the 
castle  of  Gerberoy  in  the  Beauvoisin,  which  the  king 
of  France,  who  secretly  favoured  his  pretensions,  had 
provided  for  him.  In  this  fortress  he  was  closely  be- 
sieged by  his  father,  against  whom  he  made  a  gallant  de- 
fence :  under  the  walls  of  that  place  many  rencounters 
passed,   which    resembled   more    the   single   combats  of 

14.  Chron.   Eothum.  Ingulph.  Hist,  p    71.       Hume,  Hist.  Eng.  vol.  j. 
Warton,  Hist.  Eng.  Foctrjf,  val.   i.     15.  Caran.  Sate,    Order,  Vital. 
VOL.  I.  j«  a  chivalry. 


342  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i^ 

chivalry,  than  the  military  operations  of  armies.  One 
of  these  was  too  remarkable,  by  its  circumstances  and  its 

event,  to  be  omitted.  Robert  happened  to  en- 

A.  D.  1079.  ,      1  .  1      .    •  1   J  I      u- 

counter  the  kmg;  who  bemg  concealed  by  his 

helmet,  a  fierce  combat  ensued.  But  at  last  the  prince 
■wounded  his  father  in  the  arm,  and  threw  him  from  his 
horse  ;  when  calling  for  assistance,  his  voice  discovered 
him  to  his  son  ;  who,  struck  with  a  sense  of  remorse, 
duty,  and  the  dread  of  greater  guilt,  instantly  flung  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  his  king  and  father,  craved  pardon  for 
his  offences,  and  offered  to  purchase  forgiveness  by  any 
atonement.  A  return  of  kindness,  however,  did  not 
immediately  ensue.  William's  military  pride  was  wound- 
ed, and  his  resentment  was  too  obstinate  at  once  to  yield; 
but  a  reconciliation  was  soon  brought  about  by  the  inter- 
position of  the  queen,  and  other  common  friends'^. 

The  peaceable  state  of  William's  affairs  now  gave  him 
leisure  to  finish  an  undertaking  which  proves  his  great 
and  extensive  genius,  and  does  honour  to  his  memory. 
It  was  a  general  survey  of  all  the  lands  of  England;  their 
extent  in  each  district,  their  proprietors,  te-  ^  ^ 
nures,  value ;  the  quantity  of  meadow,  pasture, 
wood,  and  arable  land,  which  they  contained ;  and,  in 
some  counties,  the  number  of  tenants,  cottagers,  and 
slaves  of  all  denominations,  who  lived  upon  them.  This 
valuable  piece  of  antiquity,  called  the  Doomsday-book, 
is  still  preserved  in  the  exchequer,  and  helps  to  illustrate 
to  us  the  ancient  state  of  England. 

William,  like  all  the  Normans,  was  much  attached  to 
the  manly  amusement  of  hunting:  and  his  passion  for  this 
amusement  he  cruelly  indulged  at  the  expense  of  his  un- 
happy subjects.  Not  contented  with  those  large  forests, 
which  the  Saxon  kings  possessed  in  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land, he  resolved  to  make  a  new  forest  near  Winchester, 
the  usual  place  of  his  residence.  Accordingly,  for  that 
purpose,  he  laid  waste  the  country  for  an  extent  of  thirty 

,  16.  R.  Hoveden.     M.  Paris.    Order.  Vital. 

miles, 


LET.  XXIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  24S 

miles,  In  Hampshire,  expelling  the  inhabitants  from  their 
houses,  seizing  their  property,  and  demolishing  churches 
and  convents,  without  making  the  sufFerei's  any  compen- 
sation for  the  injury^/.  He  also  increased  the  rigour  of 
the  game-laws,  now  become  so  grievous. 

This  monarch's  death  was  occasioned  by  a  quarrel 
not  altogether  worthy  of  his  life.  A  witticism  gave  rise 
to  war.  William,  who  was  become  corpulent,  had  been 
detained  in  bed  some  time  by  sickness,  while  in  Norman- 
dy ;  a  circumstance  which  gave  Philip  I.  of  France  oc- 
casion to  say,  with  that  vivacity  natural  to  his  country, 
that  he  was  surprised  his  brother  of  England  should  be 
so  long  in  being  delivered  of  his  big  belly.  William, 
enraged  at  this  levity,  swore,  *'  by  the  brightness  and 
*'  resurrection  of  God  !"  his  usual  oath,  That,  as  soon 
as  he  got  up,  he  would  present  so  many  lights  at  Notre 

Dame,  as    would  give    little  pleasure    to  the  ,_   „ 

1  •  r    T-  11     1-  V  1  A.  D.  1086. 

kmg  or  Trance  ;  alludmg  to  the  usual  prac- 
tice, at  that  time,  of  carrying  a  torch  to  church  after 
child-birth.  Accordingly,  on  his  recovery,  he  led  an 
army  into  the  Isle  of  France,  and  laid  every  thing  waste 
with  fire  and  sword.  But  the  progress  of  these  hostilities 
was  stopt,  by  an  accident  which  put  an  end  to  the  Eng- 
lish monarch's  life.  His  horse  suddenly  starting  aside, 
he  bruised  his  belly  on  the  pummel  of  his  saddle  :  and 
this  bruise,  joined  to  his  former  bad  habit  of  <      •< 

body,  brought  on  a  mortification,  of  which 
he  died,  in  the  sixty-third  of  his  age^^.  He  left  Nor- 
mandy and  Maine  to  his  eldest  son,  Robert:  he  wrote 
to  Lanfranc,  desiring  him  to  crown  William  king  of 
England  ;  and  he  bequeathed  to  Henry,  the  youngest  of 
the  three,  the  possessions  of  his  mother  Matilda. 

The  characters  of  princes  are  best  seen  in  their 
actions  :  I  shall,  however,  give  you  a  concise  character 
of  the  Conqueror;  for  such  he  ultimately  proved,  though 
little   more  than   a  conditional  sovereign  when  he  f.rst 

17.  Gul.  Malmes.     H.  Hunting.    Jngiia  Sacra,  vol,  i,    IB.  M.  Paris 
M.  Westminst.  Order.  Vital. 

received 


244  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

received  the  submissions  of  the  English  nation'^  The 
spirit  of  William  I.  says  a  philosophic  historian,  was 
bold  and  enterprizing,  j-et  guided  by  prudence  ;  and 
his  exorbitant  ambition,  which  lay  little  under  the  re- 
straints oi  justice,  and  still  less  under  those  of  humanity, 
ever  submitted  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and  sound 
policy.  Though  not  insensible  to  generosity,  he  was 
hardrned  against  compassion;  and  he  seemed  equally 
ostentatious,  and  ambitious  of  eclat,  in  his  clemency  and 
in  his  vengeance. 

William  II.  surnamed  Rufus,  or  the  Red,  from  the 
colour  of  his  hair,  was  instantly  crowned  king  of  Eng- 
land, in  consequence  of  his  father's  recommendatory 
letters  to  Lanfranc,  the  primate;  and  Robert  at  the  same 
time  took  peaceable  possession  of  Normandy. 

But  this  partition  of  the  Conqueror's  dominions, 
though  apparently  made  without  any  violence  or  opposi- 
tion, occasioned  in  England  many  discontents,  which 
seemed  to  promise  a  sudden  revolution.  The  Norman 
barons,  who  generally  possessed  large  estates  both  in 
England  and  their  own  country,  were  uneasy  at  the 
separation  of  those  territories,  and  foresaw  that  as  it 
would  be  impossible  for  them  to  preserve  long  their  alle- 
giance to  two  masters,  they  must  necessarily  resign  their 
ancient  property  or  their  new  acquisitions.  Robert's 
title  to  Normandy  they  esteemed  incontestable;  his  claim 
to  England  they  thought  plausible;  and  they  all  desired 
that  this  prince,   who  alone  had  any  pretensions  to  unite 

19.  William  acted  so  luiiformly  like  a  conqueror,  that,  before  the  end 
of  his  reign,  there  was  not  left  one  English,  who  was  either  earl, 
baron,  bishop,  or  abbot.  (Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  iv.  H.  Hunt.  lib.  vii.)  No 
revolution,  ancient  or  modern,  was  ever,  perhaps,  attended  with  so  com- 
plete and  sudden  a  change  of  power  and  property,  as  that  accomplished 
by  the  duke  of  Normandy.  Nor  was  the  administration  of  any  prince 
ever  more  absolute  than  that  of  William  I.  though  the  government  which 
he  established  was  by  no  means  a  despotism,  but  a  feudal  monarchy,  as 
has  been  alreaay  shewn. 

the 


J.ET.  XXIII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  2-15 

the  duchy  and  kingdom,   might  be  put  in  possession  of 
both-". 

A  comparison  between  the  personal  qualities  of  the 
two  princes,  also  led  the  malecontents  to  prefer  the  elder. 
Robert  was  brave,  open,  sincere,  generous;  whereas 
William,  though  not  less  brave  than  his  brother,  was 
violent,  haughty,  tyrannical,  and  seemed  disposed  to 
govern  more  by  fear  than  the  love  of  his  people.  Odo, 
bishop  of  Baieux,  who  had  been  released  from 

.       ^  1       J        1       r   1       i-  r  A.  D.  1088. 

pnson  on  the  death  ot  the  Conqueror,  eniorc- 
ed   all   these  motives  with  the  dissatisfied    barons,   and 
engaged  many  of  them  in  a  formal  conspiracy  to  dethrone 
the  king. 

Expecting  immediate  support  from  Normandy,  the 
conspirators  hastened  to  put  themselves  in  a  military 
posture:  and  William,  sensible  of  his  perilous  situation, 
endeavoured  to  provide  against  the  threatened  danger  by 
gaining  the  affections  of  the  native  English;  who  zealously 
embraced  his  cause,  upon  receivir.g  some  general  pro- 
mises of  good  treatment,  and  leave  to  hunt  in  the  royal 
forests,   having  now   lost   all  hopes  of  recovering  their 

ancient    liberties.     By    their    assistance    the 

1  •  ui    1  11         1  .    1        I        A.  D.  1089. 

kmg  was  enabled  to  subdue  the  rebels:    but 

the  Norman  barons,  who  had  remained  faithful  to  him, 
only  were  the  gainers.  He  paid  i:o  regard  to  the  pro- 
mises made  to  his  English  subjects,  who  still  found 
themselves  exposed  to  the  same  oppressions  which  they 
had  experienced  during  the  reign  of  the  Conqueror,  and 
which  were  augmented  by  the  tyrannical  temper  of  the 
present  monarch^'.  Even  the  privileges  of  the  church, 
which  were  held  so  sacred  in  those  days,  formed  but  a 
feeble  rampart  against  the  usurpations  of  William;  yet 

20.  Orderic  Vital. 

21.  Chron,  Sax.  Gul,  Malmes.  lib.  iv.  The  application  of  William, 
however,  and  the  service  they  had  rendered  him,  made  the  natives  sensi- 
ble of  their  importance  by  reason  of  their  numbers  :  and  tliey  gradually 
recovered  their  consequence  in  the  course  of  the  struggles  between  the  king 
and  the  nobles. 

the 


S46  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  terror  of  his  authority,  confirmed  by  the  suppression 
of  the  late  insurrections,  kept  every  one  in  subjection, 
notwithstanding  the  murmurs  of  the  clergy,  and  preserved 
general  tranquillity  in  England. 

William  even  thought  himself  sufficiently  powerful 
to  disturb  his  brother  in  the  possession  of  Normandy, 
and  bribed  several  Norman  barons  to  favour  his  unjust 
claim.  The  duke  had  also  reason  to  apprehend  danger 
from  the  intrigues  of  his  brother  Henry,  who  inherited 
more  of  his  father's  money  than  his  possessions,  and  had 
furnished  Robert,  during  his  preparations  against  Eng- 
land with  the  sum  of  three  thousand  marks;  in  return 
for  which  slender  supply,  he  had  been  put  in  possession 
of  the  Cotentin,  almost  one-third  of  the  duke's  dominions. 
But  these    two  brothers,  notwithstanding  their   mutual 

iealousies,  now   united,   in   order   to  defend 

•',    .  .'      .  .      '    ,  ,  .  .  f    ,      A.  D.  1090. 

their  territories  agamst  the  ambition  oi  the 

king  of  England,  who  appeared  in  Normandy  at  the  head 
of  a  numerous  army :  and  affairs  seemed  to  be  hastening 
to  extremity,  when  an  accommodation  was  brought  about 
by  the  interposition  of  the  nobility. 

Prince  Henry,  however,  disgusted  at  the  terms  of 
that  agreement,  in  which  he  thought  himself  treated  with 
neglect,  retired  to  St.  Michael's  Mount,  a  strong  fortress 
on  the  coast  of  Normandy,  and  infested  the  neighbour- 
ing country  with  his  incursions.  Robert  and  William, 
his  two  brothers,  besieged  him  in  this  place,  and  had 
nearly  obliged  him  to  surrender  by  reason  of  the  scarcity 
of  water:  when  the  elder,  hearing  of  his  brother's  dis- 
tress, granted  him  permission  to  obtain  a  supply,  and  also 
sent  him  some  pipes  of  wine  from  his  own  table;  a  con- 
duct which  could  only  have  been  dictated  by  the  generous 
but  romantic  spirit  of  chivalry  that  prevailed  in  those 
times,  and  with  which  the  duke  was  strongly  infected. 
Being  reproved  by  William  for  his  imprudent  generosity, 
Robert  replied,    "  What !   shall  I   suffer  my  brother  to 

"  die  of  thirst? Where  shall  we  find  another  brother 

*'  when  he  is  gone  ?" 

William 


JLET.  XXIII.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  S4f 

William,  during  this  siege,  also  performed  an  act  of 
generosity  less  suited  to  his  character.  Ridingout  alone  to 
survey  the  fortress,  he  was  attacked  by  two  soldiers,  and 
dismounted.  One  of  the  soldiers  drew  his  sword,  in 
order  to  dispatch  the  king.  "  Hold  knave  I"  cried  Wil- 
liam, "  I  am  the  king  of  England."  The  soldier  sus- 
pended his  blow,  and  raised  the  king  from  the  ground  ; 
who,  charmed  with  the  fellow's  behaviour,  rewarded  him 
handsomely,  and  took  him  into  his  service*^ 

Prince  Henry  was  at  last  obliged  to  capitulate:   and 
being  despoiled  of  all  his  dominions,  wandered 
about  for  some  time  with  very  few  attendants, 
and  often  in  great  poverty. 

In  the  mean  time  William  was  engaged  in  humbling 
the  Scots  and  Welsh,  who  had  infested  England  with  their 
incursions  during  his  Norman  expedition.  He  had  also 
occasion  to  quell  a  conspiracy  of  his  own  ba-  mo'T 

rons,  who  meant  to  exalt  to  the  throne  Ste- 
phen, count  of  Aumale,  nephew  to  the  Conqueror.  But 
the  noise  of  these  petty  wars  and  commotions  was  quite 
sunk  in  the  tumult  of  the  crusades,  which  then  engaged  the 
attention  of  all  Europe,  and  have  since  attracted  the  cu- 
riosity of  mankind, as  the  mostsingular  examples  of  human 
folly  that  were  ever  exhibited  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  The 
cause  and  consequences  of  these  pious  enterprises  I  shall 
afterwards  have  occasion  to  consider:  at  present  I  shall 
only  speak  of  them  as  they  affect  the  history  of  England. 
Robert  duke  of  Normandy,  impelled  by  the  bravery 
and  mistaken  generosity  of  his  spirit,  had  early  enlisted 
himself  in  the  first  crusade  ;  but  being  always  unprovided 
with  money,  he  found  it  would  be  impossible  for  him, 
without  some  supply,  to  appear,  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his 
rank,  at  the  head  of  his  numerous  vassals,  who,  transport- 
ed with  the  general  fury,  were  desirous  of  following  hira 
into  Asia.  He,  therefore,  resolved  to  mortgage,  or  to  sell 

''€    Gnl.  Malmes,  tihi  »up.  M.  Paris.  R.  Hoveden, 

his 


S4«  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

his  dominions,  which  he  had  not  prudence  to  govern:  and 

he  offered   them   to  his  brother  William,  who  kept  aloof 

from  all  those  fanatical  and  romantic  warriors,  for  so  small 

,    „„    a  sum  as  ten  thousand  marks'^.       The  bargain 
Jl.  d.  1095.  ,   J    ,        ,  -„.„.  .          "^ 

was  concluded,  and  William  was  put  in  pcjsses- 

sion  of  Normandy  and  Maine  ;  while  Robert,  providing 
himself  with  a  magnificent  train,  set  out  forthe  Holy  Land 
in  pursuit  of  glory,  and  in  full  hopes  of  securing  his  eter- 
nal salvation. 

In  the  mean  time  William,  who  regarded  only  the 
things  of  this  world,  was  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  An- 
selm,  commonly  called  St.  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, a  Piedmontese  monk,  whom  he  had  called  over  in 
a  fit  of  remorse,  and  whom  he  wanted  to  deprive  of  his 
see  for  refractory  behaviour.  Anselm  appealed  to  Rome 
against  the  king's  injustice,  and  affairs  came  to  such  ex- 
tremities, that  the  primate,  finding  it  dangerous  to  remain 
in  the  kingdom,  desired  permission  to  retire.  mo? 

beyond  sea.  It  was  granted  him,  but  all  his 
temporalities  were  confiscated.  He  was  nevertheless 
received  with  great  respect  by  Urban  II.  who  considered 
him  as  a  martyr  in  the  cause  of  religion,  and  even  threat- 
ened the  king  with  the  sentence  of  excommunication  on 
account  of  his  proceedings  against  the  primate^-*. 

Anselm  afterwards  distinguished  himself  in  the  coun- 
cil of  Bari,  where  the  famous  dispute  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches,  relative  to  the  procession  of  the  third 
person  of  the  trinity  was  agitated;  namely,  whether  the 
Holy  Ghost  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  the   Son,   or 

from  the  Father  only.      He  also  assisted  in  a  ^^^^« 

.,         „  \  •  •       1  A.  D.  1099. 

council  at  Rome,   where    spiritual    censures 

were  denounced  against  all  ecclesiastics  who  did  homage 

to  laymen,  for  their  benefices,  and  on  all  laymen  who 

23.  Our  old  historians  are  not  agreed  in  regard  to  the  particulars  of 
this  transaction :  but  the  ten  thousand  marks  seem  to  have  been  paid  for 
a  mortgage,  or  uninterrupted   possession,  of  five  years.     Vide   Eadmer. 
M.  Paris.  Order.  Vital. 
24    Ibid.  i 

exacted 


LET.   xxiii.J  MODERN   EUROPE.  249 

exacted  such  homage.  The  arguments  made  use  of  on 
thirt  occasion,  in  favour  of  the  clerg)^,  are  worthy  of  the 
ignorance  of  the  age,  and  strongly  mark  the  gross  super- 
stition into  which  the  human  mind  was  sunk. 

The  ceremony  of  homage,  by  the  feudal  customs, 
as  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe,  was,  that  the  vassal 
sliould  throw  himself  on  his  knees,  put  his  hands  between 
those  of  Ills  superior,  and  in  that  postvire  swear  fealty 
to  him.  Churchmen  had  been  accustomed  thus  to  do 
homage  for  their  benefices.  But  this  council  declared 
such  homage  inconsistent  Vv'lth  the  dignity  of  the  sacer- 
dotal character,  as  v/ell  as  with  the  independency  of  the 
church:  "  For,"  said  Urban,  "  it  is  execrable,  that  holy 
"  hands,  appointed  to  perform  v/hat  was  never  graiited 
"  to  any  angel,  to  create  God,  the  creator,  and  offer 
"  him  to  God,  his  Father,  for  the  salvation  of  mankind, 
"  should  be  reduced  to  the  humiliating  baseness  of  sla- 
"  vishly  mingling  with  profane  hands;  which,  besides 
"  being  soiled  v/ith  rapine  and  blood-shed,  are  day 
"  and  night  employed  in  impure  offices  and  obscene 
"  contacts"-''!" 

The  fanaticism  of  the  times  afforded  the  king  of 
England  a  second  opportunity  of  increasing  his  domi- 
nions. Poitiers  and  Guienne  were  offered  to  be  mort- 
gaged to  him  for  the  same  pious  purpose  that  had  induced 
his  brother  Robert  to  put  him  in  possession  of  Normandy 
and  Maine.  The  bargain  was  concluded,  and  William 
had  prepared  a  fleet  and  army  to  escort  the  money,  sti- 
pulated as  the  price  of  his  new  territory,   and 

.  A.  D  1 100. 

to    secure    the    possession    of    it,    when  an      '    ' 
accident  put  an  end  to  his  life,  and  to   all  his  ambitious 
projects.     He  was   engaged  in  hunting,  the  sole  amuse- 
ment,  and,   except  war,   the  chief  occupation  of  princes 

25  Flemy,  Hist.  ILcdes.  Anglia  Sacra,  vol.  i.  Eadmer.  Brompton. 
Sim.  Dunelm.  Eadmerius,  who  was  present  at  that  council,  tells  us,  that 
on  the  close  of  this  impious  speech  of  His  holiness,  all  the  venerable  fathers 
cried  "   Amen  !    Amen  .'" 

Vol.  I,  GO  in 


850  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

in  those  rude  times,  when  this  accident  happened.  Wal- 
ter T}rrel,  a  French  gentleman,  remarkable  for  his 
address  in  archery,  attended  him  in  that  recreation,  of 
which  the  New-Forest  was  the  scene;  and  as  William 
had  dismounted  after  the  chace,  Tyrrel,  impatient  to 
shew  his  dexterity,  let  fiy  an  arrow  at  a  stag,  which  sud-. 
denly  started  before  him.  The  arrow  glancing  against  a 
tree,  struck  the  king  to  the  heart,  and  instantly  killed 
him;  while  Tyrrel,  without  informing  any  one  of  the 
accident,  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  hastened  to  the  sea-, 
shore,  embarked  for  France,  and  joined  the  crusade  in 
an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land^':  a  penance  which  he 
imposed  on  himself  for  this  involuntary  crime,  and  which 
was  deemed  sufficient  to  expiate  crimes  of  the  blackest 
dye. 

William  II.  though  a  man  of  sound  understanding, 
appears  to  have  been  a  violent  and  tyrannical  prince;  a 
perfidious,  encroaching,  and  dangerous  neighbour,  and  an 
unkind  and  ungenerous  relation.  His  vices,  however, 
have  probably  been  much  exaggerated  by  the  monkish 
writers,  the  only  historians  of  those  times,  as  he  was 
latterly  void  of  superstition,  and  seemingly  wanting  in  a 
decent  respect  for  religion.  Of  this  many  examples 
might  be  prodi.red,  but  one  will  be  sufficient.  When 
the  body  of  the  clergy  presented  a  petition,  that  he  would 
give  them  leave  to  smd  as  a  form  of  prayer  to  be  used  in 
all  the  churches  of  England,  "  That  God  would  move 
"  the  heart  of  the  king  to  appoint  an  archbishop!"  he 
having  kept  the  revenues,  or  temporalities  of  the  see  of 
Canterbury  in  his  own  hands  almost  five  years,  he  care- 
lessly replied,  "  You  may  pray  as  you  please,  and  I  will 
"  act  as  I  please"7."  Had  he  lived  a  few  years  longer, 
he  would  greatly  have  enlarged  his  dominions;  and  as 
he  was  the  most  powerful  and  politic  prince  in  Europe, 
he  might  perhaps  have  become  its  arbiter.  He  built  the 
tower,  Westminster-hall,  and  London-bridge,  monuments 
pf  his  greatness,   which   still   remain.     His  most  liberal 

26.  Chron,  Sax.     R.  Hovedcn.    H.  Hunt.     27.  Gul.  Malmes.  p.  124. 

col.  i- 

measure 


LET.  XXIII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.*  2Sl 

measure  was  the  sending  of  an  army  into  Scotland,  iii 
order  to  restore  prince  Edgar,  the  true  htir  of  that 
crown,  the  son  of  Malcohii  III.  surnamed  Canmore,  by 
Margaret,  sister  of  Edgar  Atheling.  The  enterprize 
succeeded. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  this  reign,  IMagnus  king 
of  Norway  made  a  descent  on  the  Isle  of  Anglesea,  but 
was  beat  off  by  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury.  Since  that  re- 
pulse the  northern  nations  have  made  no  attempt  against 
England. 

As  William  Rufus  was  never  married,  and  consequently 
could  leave  no  lawful  issue,  the  kingdom  of  England  new 
belonged  to  his  brother  Robert,  both  by  the  right  of  birth 
and  of  solemn  compact,  ratified  by  the  nobility.  But  as 
prince  Henry  was  hunting  in  the  Nev/-Forest  when  the 
king  was  slain,  he  immediately  galloped  to  Winchester; 
secured  the  royal  treasure,  was  saluted  king,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  exercise  of  the  sovereign  authority.  Sensi- 
ble, however,  that  a  crown  usurped  against  all  the  rules  of 
justice  would  sit  very  unsteady  on  his  head,  Henry  re- 
solved, by  fair  professions  at  least,  to  gain  the  affections 
of  all  his  subjects.  Besides  taking  the  usual  coronation 
oath,  to  maintain  the  constitution,  and  to  execute  justice, 
he  passed  a  charter,  v/hich  was  calculated  to  remedy  many 
of  the  grievous  oppressions  complained  of  during  the 
reign  of  his  father  and  his  brother;  and  he  promised  a 
general  confirmaticn  and  observance  of  the  laws  of  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor^^. 

In  order  farther  to  establish  himself  on  the  throuej 
the  king  recalled  archbishop  Anselm,  and  reinstated  hinn. 
in  the  see  of  Canterbury.  He  also  married  Matilda, 
daughter  of  Malcolm  III.  king  of  Scotland,  and  niece  to 
Edgar  Atheling.  And  this  marriage,  more  than  any 
other  measure  of  his  reign,  tended  to  endear  Henry  to 
his  English  subjects;  who  had  felt  so  severely  the  tyranny 
of  the  Normans,  that  they  reflected  with  infinite  regret 

28.  M.  Paris.     R.  Hagulstad 

on 


252  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part   u 

on  their  former  liberty,  and  hoped  for  a  more  equal  and 
mild  administration,  when  the  blood  of  their  native  prin- 
ces should  be  united  with  that  of  the  new  sovereigns'-^. 
But  the  policy  and  prudence  of  Henry  I.  ran  great 
hazard  of  being  frustrated  by  the  sudden  appearance- 
oi  his  brother  Robert,  who  returned  from  the  Holy 
Land  about  a  month  after  the  death  of  "William  IJ^  took 
possession  of  Normandy  without  resistance,  and  made 
preparations  for  asserting  his  title  to  the  crown  of 
England.    - 

The  great  reputation  which  Robert  had  acquired  in 
the  east,  favoured  his  pretensions;  and  the  Norman 
barons,  still  impressed  with  apprehensions  of  the  conse- 
quences of  the  separation  of  the  duchy  and  kingdom, 
discovered  the  same  discontent  which  had  appeared  on 
the  accession  of  Rufus.  Henry  was,  therefore,  in  danger 
of  being  deserted  by  all  his  subjects  ;  and  it  was  only 
through  the  exhortations  of  archbishop  Anselm,  that 
they  were  engaged  to  oppose  Robert,   who  had  landed 

tir^i    at  Portsmouth.      The  two  armies  continued 
A.  D.  iioi.  ...  ■-        t        -i  -1 

some  davs    in  sjght    ot  each  other    without 

coming  to  action;  and  by  the  interf osition  of  the  same 
prelate,  an  accommodation  was  happily  brought  about 
between  the  brothers. 

In  this  treaty  it  was  agreed,  That  Robert  should  re- 
sign his  pretensions  to  England,  and  receive  an  annual 
pension  of  three  thousand  marks  ;  that  if  either  of  the 
princes  died  without  issue,  the  other  should  succeed  to 
his  dominions  ;  that  the  adherents  of  each  should  be  par- 
doned, and  restored  to  all  their  possessions,  and  that  nei- 
ther the  king  nor  the  duke  should  thenceforth  countenance 
the  enemies  of  each  other^".  But  these  conditions,  though 
so  fuvourable  to  Henrv,  were  soon  violated  by  his  rapa^ 
city  and  ambition.  He  restored  indeed  the  estates  of 
Robert's  adherents,  but  took  care  they  should  not  remain 
long  in  the  undisturbed  possession  of  them.  Various 
pretences  were   foraied  for  despoiling  and  humbling  all 

29.  M.  r;t»Is.  K.  Ilovedeu.     30.  Chrun.  Sax.  Order.  Vital. 

who 


LET.  XXIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  253 

who,  in  his  opinion,  had  either  inclination  or  abilities  to 
disturb  his  government. 

Enraged  at  the  fate  of  his  friends,  Robert  imprudently 
ventured  into  England,  but  met  with  such  a  bad  reception, 
that  he  became  alarmed  for  his  own  safety,  and  was  glad 
to  purchase  his  esciq^e  with  the  loss  of  his  pension.  One 
indiscretion  followed  another.  The  affairs  of  Normandy 
fell  into  confusion;  Henry  went  over,  by  invitation,  to 
regulate  them  ;  but,  instead  of  supporting  his  brother's  au- 
thority, he  increased  the  discontents  by  every  art  of  bri- 
bery, intrigue,  and  insinuation,  and  at  length  made  himself 
master  of  the  duchy.  The  unfortunate  Robert,  who  seem- 
ed born  only  to  be  the  snort  of  fortune,  Avas  -,-,r^a 
^  A.  D.  lluo. 
carried  prisoner  into  England;  where  he  re- 
mained in  custody  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  v/hich 
was  no  less  than  tv/enty-eight  years;  and  died  a  captive 
in  the  castle  of  Cardifl'in  Glamorganshire^'. 

The  acquisition  of  Normandy  was  a  great  point  of 
Henry's  ambition,  being  the  ancient  patrimonial  inherit- 
ance of  his  family,  and  the  only  territory  which  gave  him 
any  weight  or  consideration  on  the  continent.  But  the 
injustice  of  the  usurpation  was  the  source  of  much  inquie- 
tude, and  the  jealousy  of  the  French  monarch  gave  rise 
to  those  wars  which  v/ere  to  prove  so  fatal  to  posterity. 
Lev/is  VI.  in  concert  with  the  counts  of  Arsjou  and  Flan- 
ders, supported  the  claim  of  V/illiam,  sou  of  Robert,  to 
the  duchy  of  Normandv :  he  even  craved  the  assistance  of  the 
church  for  reinstating  the  true  heir  in  his  dominions,  and 
represented  the  enormity  of  detaining  in  prison  so  brave 
a  prince  as  Robert,  one  of  the  most  eminent  champions 
of  the  Cross.  But  Henry  knew  hov/  to  defend  the  rights 
of  his  crown,  with  vigour,  and  yet  with  dexterity.  He 
detached  the  count  of  Anjou  from  the  alliance, by  contract- 
ing his  eldest  son,     William,  to  that  prince's   daughter, 


31.  Ar.nal.  Wcirtrl.  G-A.  Malmec.  lib,  v. 

while 


254  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

while  he  gained  the  pope   and   his  favourites   by  liberal 

. .  .r.   presents  and  promises.      Calixtus  II.  who  was 
A.  D.  1119.  '  .     „       '        J     ,        ,       ^  r 

then  in  Jb  ranee,  declared,  alter  a  conrerence 

with  Henry,  that  of  all  men,  whom  he  had  ever  seen,  the 
king  of  England  was  beyond  comparison  the  most  elo- 
quent and  persuasive^-.  The  complaints  of  the  Norman 
prince  were  thenceforth  disregarded. 

The  military  operations  of  Lewis  proved  as  unsuc- 
cessi\il  as  his  intrigues.  The  French  and  English  ar- 
mies engaged  near  Andeley,  in  Normandy;  where  a  sharp 
action  ensued,  in  which  William,  the  son  of  Robert,  be- 
haved with  great  braverv.  Henry  himself  was  in  emi- 
nent danger.  He  was  wounded  in  the  head  by  a  gallant 
Norman,  named  Crispin,  who  had  followed  the  fortunes 
of  William  ;  but,  rather  roused  than  intimidated  by  the 
blow^,  the  king  collected  all  his  might,  aud  beat  his  an- 
tagonist to  the  ground^^.  The  English,  animated  by  the 
example  of  their  sovereign,  put  the  French  to  total  route; 
and  an  accommodation  soon  after  took  place  between  the 
two  monarchs,  in  which  the  interests  of  young  William 
were  entirely  neglected. 

But  Henry's  public  prosperity  was  much  overbalan- 
ced by  a  domestic  misfortune.     His  son  William,  who 

had  attained  his  eighteenth  year,  had  accom- 
A.  D.  1120.         ...  . 

panied  him   into  Normandy,  but  perished  in 

his     return,  with    all    his    retinue.      The    royal    youth 

was  anxious  to  get   first  to  land;   and  the  captain  of  his 

vessel,    being    intoxicated    with   liquor,    heedlessly   ran 

her  on    a   rock,   where  she  was  immediately  dashed  to 

pieces.      Beside  the  prince,  above  one  hundred  and  forty 

young  noblemen,   of  the   principal  families  of  England 

and  Normandy,  were  lost   on  this  occasion.     The   king 

was  so  much  affected  by  the  news,  that  he  is  said  never 

to  have  smiled  more^l 

As  prince  William  left  no  children,  Henry  had  now  no 

legitimate  issue,  except  his  daughter  Matilda,  whom  he 

..^^   had  betrothed  when  a  child  to  the  emperor 

A.  D.  1 127  .  . 

Henry  V.  who   also  dying  without  children, 

32.  M.  Paris.  H.  Ilunung.         33.  Ibid.  34.  R.  Hoveden. 

the 


LF.T.  xxui.j     MODERN  EUROPE.  3.55 

the  king  bestowed  his  daughter  on  Geoffrey  Plantagenet, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  count  of  Anjou,  and  endeavoured 
to  secure  her  succession,  by  having  her  recognized  heiress 
of  all  his  dominions;  and  he  obliged  the  barons  both  of 
Normandy  and  England  to  swear  fealty  to  her.  After 
six  years  she  was  delivered  of  a  son,  who  re-  n  oo 

ceived  the  name  of  Henry;  and  the  king,  far- 
ther to  insure  the  succession,  made  all  the  nobility  renew 
the  oath  of  fealty  which  they  had  already  sworn  to  her, 
and  also  to  swear  fealty  to  her  infant  son -'' . 

The  joy  of  this  event,  and  the  pleasure  of  his  daugh- 
ter's company,  made  Henry  take  up  his  residence  in 
Normandy:  where  he  died  in  the  sixty-seventh  year 
of  his  age   and   the  thirty-fifth  of  his  reign, 

.  A.  D.  lloo 

leaving  his  daughter  Matilda  heiress  of  all 
his  dominions.  He  was  one  of  the  most  able  and  accom- 
plished princes  that  ever  filled  the  English  throne,  pos- 
sessing all  the  qualities,  both  mental  and  personal,  that 
could  adorn  the  high  station  to  which  he  attained,  or  fit 
him  for  the  government  of  an  extensive  territory.  His 
learning,  which  procured  him  the  name  of  Beauclerc,  or 
t\\t  Jine  scholar,  would  have  distinguished  him  in  private 
life,  and  his  talents  would  have  given  him  an  ascendant 
in  any  condition. 

The  affairs  of  France,  my  dear  Philip,  and  the  cru- 
sades, which  took  their  rise  in  that  kingdom,  claim  your 
attention,  before  I  speak  of  the  disputed  succession  of 
Matilda,  and  of  her  son  Henry  II.  commonly  known  by 
the  name  of  Plantagenet,  whose  reign  affords  some  of 
the  most  interesting  spectacles  in  the  History  of  England. 
In  the  mean  time  it  will  be  proper  to  take  a  slight  review 
of  the  change  produced  in  our  ancient  constitution,  and 
in  the  condition  of  our  Saxon  ancestors,  by  the  Normau 
<:onquest  or  revolution. 

35.  Ypod.  Neust.  R.  de  Diceto. 

Postcript. 


25t>  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

THE  original  government  of  the  Anglo-Saxoris,  as 
we  have  set'Ji,  was  a  kind  of  military  democracy,  under  a 
hing  or  ciiief,  wh.ose  raithority  Avas  very  limited,  and 
v.'hose  ollice  was  not  strictly  hereditary,  but  depended 
on  the  vv'ill  of  the  people.  This  government  ihey  brought 
into  Britain  v.ith  them.  Matters  of  small  consequence 
were  settled  by  the  king  in  council:  but  all  affairs  oi  gene- 
ral concern  or  national  importance,  the  making  of  laws 
the  imposing  of  taxes,  the  declaring  of  war,  were  laid 
befoiT  the  Wittenagemot  or  parliament,  and  determined 
by  the  majority  of  voices,  or  a.t  least  by  the  prepondera- 
tion  of  public  opinions''. 

From  that  assem.bly  no  freeman  could  be  said  to  be 
excluded;  for  although  a  certain  portion  of  land  was  ne- 
cessarv  as  a  qualification,  a  husbandman  or  tradesman 
no  sooner  acquired  that  portion,  which  was  different  at 
different  times  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  governments?,  than 
he  had  a  right  to  be  present,  not  only  as  a  spectator,  a 
privilege  that  was  common  to  every  one,  but  as  a  con- 
stituent member  of  the  Wittenagemot.  And  all  mer- 
chants, who  had  made  two  voyages  to  foreign  countries, 
on  their  ov/n  account,  became  possessed  of  the  same  right 
bv  a  law  passed  in  the  reign  of  king  Athelstan^";  so  that 
our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  ir-ight  make  with  truth  the 
glorious  boast  of  modern  Englishmen,  that,  every  mem- 
ber of  the  community  shared  with  his  sovereign  the  power 
and  authority  by  whicli  he  was  governed.  Little  wonder, 
therefore,  that  the  great  lines  of  this  ennobling  system  oi 
freedom,  long  after  it  was  destroyed,  seemed  to  be  en- 
gaved  in  their  hearts,  by  the  keen  sorrow  with  which  it 
was  1  cjrretted! 


06.  SjK-lman,  G'on.  in  I'or.   Witienagemot. 

27.  It  was  originally  only  hve  hides,  but  was  raised  by    degrees  as 
liigl)  as  forty,  38.  Wiikins,  Leges  Saxon.    Selden,  Tit.  Hong. 


LET.  XXIII.]       MODERN  EUROPE.  257 

If  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  a  nation,  had  reason  to  thuik 
themselves  happy  in  their  deliberative  and  legislative, 
they  were  no  less  so  in  their  juridical  capacity.  Justice 
was  universally  the  care  of  the  great  body  of  the  people: 
and  a  regular  chain  of  appeal  was  established  from  the 
tithing  or  decennary,  consisting  of  ten  families,  up  to  the 
Wittenagemot,  which  was  a  supreme  court  of  law,  as  well 
as  a  national  council  or  assembly.  But  the  grand  secu- 
rity of  justice,  and  even  of  liberty  and  property,  was  the 
court  called  the  Shiremote,  held  twice  a  year  in  every 
county,  at  a  stated  time  and  place  j  where,  along  with 
the  alderman  or  earl  of  the  shire,  and  the  bishop  of  the  dio- 
cese, all  the  clergy  and  landholders  of  the  country  were 
obliged  to  be  present,  and  determined,  by  the  majority 
of  voices,  all  causes  brought  before  them,  in  whatever 
stage  of  their  progress;  beginning  with  the  causes  of  the 
church,  taking  next  under  cognizance  the  pleas  of  the 
crown,  and  lastly  the  disputes  of  private  persons39. 

As  the  duke  of  Normandy,  by  taking  the  usual  oath 
administered  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  at  their  coronation, 
had  solemnly  engaged  to  maintain  the  constitution,  and 
to  administer  justice  according  to  the  laws,  the  English 
nation  had  reason  to  believe  ihey  had  merely  changed  their 
native  sovereign  for  one  of  foreign  extraction:  a  matter  to 
them  of  small  concern,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe, 
especially  as  the  line  of  succession  had  been  already  broken 
by  the  usurpation  or  election  of  Harold.  But  although  Wil- 
liam ailected  moderation  for  a  while,  and  even  adopted 
some  of  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  in  order  to 
quiet  the  apprehensions  of  his  new  subjects,  to  these 
laws  he  paid  little  regard;  and  no  sooner  did  he  find 
himself  firmly  established  on  the  throne,  than  he  utterly 
subverted  the  form  of  government,  and  the  manner  of 
administering  justice  throughout  the  whole  kingdom.. 
The  government  which  he  substituted  was  a  rigid  feudal, 
monarchy,  or  military  aristocracy,  in  which  a  regular  chaia, 

39.  Spelman.  EcHqulie,  Hipkcji,  Dissertat.  Eplst, 
VOL.   I.  P  p  af 


2a«  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  subordination  and  service  was  established,  from  the 
sovereign  or  commander  in  chief,  to  the  serf  or  villain ; 
and  which,  like  all  feudal  governments,  was  attended 
with  a  grievous  depression  of  the  body  of  the  people, 
who  were  daily  exposed  to  the  insults,  violences,  and 
exactions  of  the  nobles,  whose  vassals  they  all  were,  and 
from  whose  oppressive  jurisdiction  it  was  difficult  and 
dangerous  for  them  to  appeal. 

This  depression,  as  might  be  expected,  was  more 
complete  and  humiliating  in  England,  under  the  first  An- 
glo-Norman princes,  than  in  any  other  feudal  government. 
William  I.  by  his  artful  and  tyrannical  policy,  by  attain- 
ders and  confiscations,  had  become,  in  the  course  of 
his  reign,  proprietor  of  almost  all  the  lands  in  the 
kingdom.  These  lands,  however,  he  could  not  retain, 
had  he  been  even  willing,  in  his  own  hands  :  he 
was  under  the  necessity  of  bestowing  the  greater  part 
of  them  on  his  Norman  captains  or  nobles,  the  companions 
of  his  conquest  and  the  instruments  of  his  tyranny,  who 
had  led  their  own  vassals  to  battle^^.  But  those  grants 
he  clogged  with  heavy  feudal  services,  and  payments  or 
prestations,  which  no  one  dared  to  refuse.  He  was  the 
general  of  a  victorious  army,  which  was  still  obliged  to 
continue  in  a  military  posture,  in  order  to  secure  the 
possessions  it  had  seized.  And  the  Anglo-Norman  bar- 
ons, and  tenants  in  capite,  by  knight's-service,  who  only- 
held  immediately  of  the  crown,  and  with  the  dignified 
clergy  formed  the  national  assembly,  imposed  obligations 
yet  more  severe  on  their  vassals,  the  inferior  landhold- 
ers, consisting  chiefly  of  unhappy  English  gentlemen,  as 

40.  Nothing  can  moi-e  strongly  indicate  that  necessity,  than  the  follow- 
ing anecdote.  Earl  Warren,  when  questioned,  in  a  subsequent  reign,  con- 
cerning  his  right  to  the  lands  he  possessed,  boldly  drew  his  sword- 
"  This,"  said  he,  "  is  my  title  ! — William  the  Bastard  did  not  conquer  Eng- 
"  land  himself:  the  Norman  Barons,  and  my  ancestors,  among  the  rest, 
"  were  joint  adventurers  in  the  enterprise."  Dugdale,  Baronage,  vol.  i. 

well 


LST.  xxiii.J         MODERN  EUROPE.  269 

well  as  on  the  body  of  the  people,  for  whom  they  seemed 
to  have  no  bowels  of  compassion4i. 


41.  The  state  of  England,  at  the  death  of  William  the  conqueror,  is 
thus  described  by  one  of  our  ancient  historians,  who  was  almost  cotempo- 
rary  with  that  prince.  "  The  Normans,  had  now  fully  executed  the 
"  wrath  of  heaven  upon  the  English.  There  was  hardly  one  of  that  nation 
"  who  possessed  any  power  ;  they  were  all  involved  in  servitude  and 
"  sorrow;  insomuch,  that  to  be  called  an  Englishman  was  considered  as 
"  a  repromch.  In  those  miserable  times  many  oppressive  taxes  and  tyranni. 
"  cal  customs  were  introduced.  The  king  himself,  when  he  had  let  his 
"  lands  at  their  full  value,  if  another  tenant  came  and  offered  more,  and 
*  afterwards  a  third,  and  offered  still  more,  violated  all  his  former  ficic^ 
"  tions,jLY\d  gave  them  to  him  who  offered  most  ;  and  the  great  men  were 
"  injiamed  with  such  a  rage  for  money  that  they  cared  not  by  what  means 
"  it  WTLi  acquired.  The  more  they  talked  of  justice,  the  more  injuriously 
"  they  acted.  Those  who  were  called  justiciaries,"  alluding  most  likely 
to  the  barons  in  their  courts,  "  were  the  fountains  of  all  iniquity.  Sher- 
"  iffs  and  judges,  whose  peculiar  duty  it  was  to  pi-onounce  righteous 
"judgments, were  the  most  cruel  of  all  tyrants,  and  greater  plunderers  than 
•'  common  thieves  and  robbers.'^  (Hen.  Hunting,  lib.  viii.)  And  the  author 
of  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  in  speaking  of  the  miseries  of  a  subsequent  reign, 
says,  that  the  great  barons  "  grievously  oppressed  the  poor  people  with 
"  building  castles  ;  and  when  they  were  built,  they  filled  them  with  wick- 
"•  cd  men,  or  rather  deyils,  who  seized  both  men  and  women  supposed  to  be 
"possessed  of  any  money;  threw  them  into  prison  and  put  them  to  more 
"  cruel  tortures  than  the  martyrs  ever  endured."  {Chron.  Sax.  p.  238.)  The 
truth  of  this  melancholy  description  is  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of 
William  of  Malmsbury.     Hist.  lib.  ii. 

The  great  power  and  success  of  the  Normans  made  them  licentious 
•swell  as  tyrannical.  This  licentiousness  was  so  great,  that  the  princess 
Matilda,  daughter  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  king  of  Scotland,  who  had  re, 
ceived  her  education  in  England,  and  was  afterwards  married  to  Henry  I. 
thoughtit  necessary  to  wear  the  i-eligious  habit,  in  order  to  preserve  her  per- 
son from  violation.  Before  a  great  council  of  the  Anglo-Norman  clergy, 
she  herself  declared.  That  she  had  been  induced  by  no  other  motive  to  put 
on  the  veil.  And  the  council  admitted  her  plea,  in  the  following  memora- 
ble words  :  "  when  the  great  Hng  Willimn  conquered  this  land,  many  of  his 
•'  followers,  elated  with  their  extraordinary  success,  and  thinking  that 
"  all  things  ought  to  be  subservient  to  their  vcill  2.nd  pleasure,  not  only  seiz- 
"  ed  the  posiessinns  of  the  vanquished,  but  invaded  tht  honour  of  their  ma- 
«'  trons  a.Yidvirgins.  Hence  many  young  ladies,  who  dreaded  such  violences, 
"  were  induced  to  seek  shelter  in  convents,  and  even  to  take  the  ve/Zas  sfort.ber 
'■  security  to  their  virtue. "     Eadmer.  I/ist,  lib.  iii. 

But 


260  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

But  the  rigour  of  the  Anglo-Norman  government, 
and  the  tyrannical  and  licentious  spirit  of  the  nobles,  pro- 
ved ultimately  favourable  to  general  liberty.  The  op- 
pressed people  looked  up  to  the  king  for  protection:  and 
circumstances  enabled  them  to  obtain  it.  The  defect  in 
the  title  of  William  II.  and  of  Henry  I.  induced  them  to 
listen  to  the  complaints  of  their  English  subjects,  and 
to  redress  many  of  their  grievances.  The  people,  in 
some  measure  satisfied  with  the  relief  afforded  them, 
became  sensible  of  their  consequence,  and  of  their  obli- 
gations to  the  crown:  while  the  barons,  finding  themselves 
in  quiet  possession  of  their  English  estates,  and  appre- 
hending no  future  disturbance  from  the  natives,  bore  with 
impatience  the  burdens  imposed  upon  them  by  William  I. 
and  to  which  they  had  readily  submitted,  in  the  hour  of 
conquest  and  of  danger.  They  saw  the  necessity  of 
being  more  indulgent  to  their  vassals,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain a  sufficient  force  to  enable  them  to  retrench  the 
prerogatives  of  the  sovereign,  and  of  connecting  their 
cause  with  that  of  the  people.  And  the  people,  always 
formidable  by  their  numbers,  courted  by  both  parties, 
and  sometimes  siding  with  one,  sometimes  with  the 
other,  in  the  bloody  contest  between  the  king  and  the 
barons,  recovered  by  various  progressive  steps,  which 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  trace  in  the  course  of  my  nar- 
ration, their  ancient  and  natural  right  to  a  place  in  the; 
parliament  or  national  assembly. 

Thus  restored  to  a  share  in  the  legislature,  the  Eng- 
lish commonalty  felt  more  fully  their  own  importance; 
and  by  a  long  and  vigorous  struggle,  maintained  with 
unexampled  perseverance,  they  wrested  from  both  the 
king  and  the  nobles,  all  the  other  rights  of  a  free  people, 
of  which  their  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  had  been  robbed 
by  the  violent  invasion,  and  cruel  policy  of  William  the 
Norman.  To  those  rights  they  were  entitled  as  men, 
by  the  great  law  of  nature  and  reason,  which  declares 
the  welfare  of  the  xvhole  community  to  be  the  end  of  all 
civil  government;   and  as   Englishmen,  bv  inheritance. 

In 


lET.  XXIV.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  261 

In  whatever  light,  therefore,  we  view  the  privileges  of 
the  commons,  they  are  resumptions,  not  usurpations. 
In  order  to  establish  this  important  political  truth, 
some  of  our  popular  writers  have  endeavoured  to  prove, 
that  the  people  of  England  were  by  no  means  robbed  of 
their  liberty  or  property  by  William  I.  and  that  the 
commons  had  a  share  in  the  legislature  under  all  the  Anglo- 
Norman  princes.  But  as  this  position  cannot  be  main- 
tained without  violating  historical  testimony,  the  advo- 
cates for  prerogatives  have  had  greatly  the  advantage 
in  that  contentious  dispute42.  I  have  therefore  made 
the  usurpations  of  William,  in  violation  of  his  corona- 
tion oath,  the  basis  of  my  argument.  Usurpation  can 
create  no  right,  nor  the  exercise  of  illegal  authority  any 
prerogative. 


LETTER  XXIV. 


FRANCE,      UNDER    PHILIP    I.    AND    LEWIS    VI.    WITH    SOME    AC- 
COUNT   OF    THE    FIRST    CRUSADE. 

JtHILIP  I.  as  I  have  already  observed',  had 
been  perfectly  well  educated.  Nor  was  he  by  any  means 
deficient  in  point  of  capacity;  but  his  mind  had  acquired 

42.  Mr.  Hume,  in  particular,  has  triumphed  over  every  adversary. 
His  collected  arguments,  supported  by  facts,  to  prove  "  that  the  com. 
*'  mons  originally  formed  no  part  of  the  Anglo-Norman  parliament,"  are 
strong  and  satisfactory.  But  the  foUoviring  clause  in  the  great  charter 
is  of  itself  sufficient  to  determine  the  dispute.  "  We  will  cause  to  be 
"  summoned,"  says  the  king,  "  as  a  common  couNCiLof  the  kingdom, 
"  the  archbishops,  biihopi,  earls,  znd  great  barons,  personally,  by  our  letters  ; 
"  and  besides,  we  will  cause  to  be  summoned,  in  general,  by  our  sheriffs 
''  and  bailiffs,  all  others  who  hold  of  us  in  chief."  (Mag.  Chart,  c. 
xiv.)  This  indubitable  testimony,  so  full  and  conclusive,  when  duly 
weighed,  must  preclude  all  future  controversy  on  the  subject. 
1.  Letter  ZVIII. 

a  wrone 


£52  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

a  wrong  bias,  which  discovered  itself  in  all  his  actions, 
and  swayed  him  upon  all  occasions,  to  prefer  his  inter- 
est, or  his  inclinations,  to  his  honour.  His  reign  is 
not  so  remarkable  for  any  thing,  as  his  marrying  Ber- 
trand  de  Montford,  duchess  of  Anjou,  while  her  hus- 
band and  his  queen  were  both  alive.  For  this  irregu- 
larity he  was  excommunicated  by  Urban  II.  in  the 
famous  council  of  Clermont,  where  the  first 
Crusade  was  preached  for  the  recovery  of 
the  Holy  Land^;  a  circumstance  which  naturally  leads 
me  to  speak  of  that  extravagant  expedition,  its  causes, 
and  its  consequences. 

Gregory  VII.  among  his  other  vast  ideas,  had 
formed,  as  we  have  seen,  the  project  of  uniting  the 
western  Christians  against  the  Mahometans,  and  of 
recovering  Palestine  from  the  hands  of  those  infidels3: 
and  his  quarrels  with  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  by  which 
he  declared  himself  an  enemy  to  the  civil  power  of 
princes,  only  could  have  obstructed  the  progress  of  this 
undertaking,  conducted  by  so  able  a  politician,  at  a 
time  when  the  minds  of  men  were  fully  prepared  for 
such  an  enterprize.  The  work,  however,  was  reserved 
for  a  meaner  instrument ;  for  a  man  whose  condition 
could  excite  no  jealousy,  and  whose  head  was  as  weak 
as  his  imagination  was  warm.  But  before  I  mention 
this  man,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of  the  state  of  the  east 
at  that  time,  and  of  the  passion  for  pilgrimages  which 
then  prevailed  in  Europe. 

We  naturally  view  with  veneration  and  delight  those 
places  which  have  been  the  residence  of  any  illustrious 
personage,  or  the  scene  of  any  great  transaction.  Hence 
the  enthiisiasm  with  which  the  literati  still  visit  the 
ruins  of  Athens  and  Rome  ;  and  hence  flowed  the 
superstitious  devotion  with  which  Christians,  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  church,  were  accustomed  to  visit 
that   country  where    their  religion   had  taken  its  rise, 

2.  Warduin.  Condi,  torn.  xi.     ".  See  Letter  XXII. 

and 


LET.  XXIV.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  263 

and  that  city  in  which  the  Messiah  had  died  for  the 
redemption  of  those  who  believe  in  his  name.  Pilgrim- 
ages to  the  shrines  of  saints  and  martyrs  were  also 
common;  but  as  this  distant  pilgrimage  could  not  be 
perfomed  without  considerable  expense,  fatigue,  and 
danger,  it  appeared  more  meritorious  than  all  others, 
and  came  to  be  considered  as  an  expiation  for  almost 
every  crime.  And  an  opinion  which  prevailed  over 
Europe  towards  the  close  of  the  tenth,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eleventh  century,  increased  the  number  and 
the  ardour  of  the  credulous  devotees,  that  undertook 
this  tedious  journey.  The  thousand  years  mentioned 
by  St.  John,  in  his  book  of  Revelations,  were  sup- 
posed to  be  accomplished,  and  the  end  of  the  world  at 
hand.  A  general  consternation,  as  I  have  had  occa- 
sion to  notice,  seized  the  minds  of  Christians.  Many 
relinquished  their  possessions,  abandoned  their  friends 
and  families,  and  hurried  with  precipitation  to  the  Holy 
Land,  where  they  imagined  Christ  would  suddenly  ap- 
pear to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead^. 

But  the  Christians,  though  ultimately  undeceived 
in  regard  to  the  day  of  Judgment,  had  the  mortification, 
in  these  pious  journies,  to  see  the  holy  sepulchre,  and 
the  other  places  made  sacred  by  the  presence  of  the 
Saviour,  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Infidels.  The  followers 
and  the  countrymen  of  Mahomet,  had  early  made  them- 
selves masters  of  Palestine,  which  the  Greek  empire, 
far  in  its  decline,  was  unable  to  protect  against  so 
warlike  an  enemy.  They  gave  little  disturbance,  how- 
ever, to  those  zealous  pilgrims  who  daily  flocked  to 
Jerusalem:  nay,  they  allowed  every  one,  after  paying 
a  moderate  tribute,  to  visit  the  holy  sepulchre,  to  per- 
form his  religious  duties,  and  return  in  peace.  But 
the  Turks,  a  Tartar  tribe,  who  had  also  embraced  Ma- 
hometanism,  having  wrested  Syria  from  the  Saracens 
as  you  have  seen,  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century,   and  made  themselves   masters  of  Jerusalem, 

4.  Cbron.  Will.  Godell!  ap.  Eoniiict.  Feaicl!  da  Hist,  de  France,  torn.  x. 

pilgrims 


264  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

pilgrims  were  thenceforth  exposed  to  outrages  of  every 
kind  from  these  fierce  barbarians.  And  this  change, 
coinciding  with  the  panic  of  the  consummation  of  all 
things,  and  the  supposed  appearance  of  Christ  on  Mount 
Sion,  filled  Europe  with  alarm  and  indignation.  Every 
pilgrim  who  returned  from  Palestine,  related  the  dangers 
he  had  encountered  in  visiting  the  holy  city,  and  describ- 
ed, with  exaggeration,  the  cruelty  and  vexations  of  the 
Turks;  who,  to  use  the  language  of  those  zealots,  not 
only  profaned  the  sepulchre  of  the  Lord  by  their  pre- 
sence, but  derided  the  sacred  mysteries  in  the  very 
place  of  their  completion,  and  where  the  Son  of  God 
was  speedily  expected  to  hold  his  great  tribunal-''. 

While  the  minds  of  men  were  thus  roused,  a  fanati- 
cal monk,  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  Peter  the 
Hermit,  a  native  of  Amiens  in  Picardy,  revived  the 
project  of  Gregory  VII.  of  leading  all  the  forces  of  Chris- 
.tendom  against  the  Infidels,  and  of  driving  them  out  of 
the  Holy  Land.  He  had  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  was  so  deeply  affected  with  the  danger  to  which 
that  act  of  piety  now  exposed  Christians,  that  he  ran  from 
province  to  province  on  his  return,  with  a  crucifix  in  his 
hand,  exciting  princes  and  people  to  this  holy  v/ar;  and 
wherever  he  came,  he  kindled  the  same  enthusiastic 
ardour  for  it  with  which  he  himself  was  animated. 

Urban  II.  who  had  at  first  been  doubtful  of  the  suc- 
cess of  such  a  project,  at  length  entered  into   Peter's 

^r^r^^    views,  and  summoned  at  Placentia  a  council, 
A.  D.1095.      ,  .  ,  '  ,  ,.      J  .      1    ,j   •        L 

which   was  obliged  to   be  held  in  the  open 

fields,  no  hall  being  sufficient  to  contain  the  multitude: 

it  consisted   of  four  thousand  ecclesiastics,   and  thirty 

thousand  laymen,  who  ajll  declared  for  the  war  against 

the  Infidels,  but  none  of  them  heartily  engaged  in  the 

enterprize.     Urban,  therefore,  found  it  necessary  to  call 

another  council  the  same   year,   at   Clermont,   in  Au- 

yergne,  where  the  greatest  prelates,  nobles,  and  princes 

5.  F.ccard.  Corp.  Scrijit.  Me:lii  Evi,  vol,  i. 

attended; 


lET.  xxTv.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  265 

attended;  and  when  the  pope  and  the  hennit  had  con- 
cluded their  pathetic  exhortations,  the  whole  assembly, 
as  if  impelled  by  immediate  inspiration,  exclaimed 
with  one  voice:  "It  is  the  will  of  God! — It  is  the  will 
*'  of  God" — words  which  were  deemed  so  memoraljle, 
and  believed  to  be  so  much  the  result  of  a  divine  influ- 
ence, that  they  were  employed  as  the  motto  on  the 
sacred  standard,  ard  as  the  signal  of  rendezvous  and 
battle  in  all  the  future  exploits  of  the  champions  of  the 
Cross  ;  the  symbol  chosen  by  the  devoted  combatants, 
in  allusion  to  the  death  of  Christ,  as  the  badge  oi  union, 
and  affixed  to  their  right  shoulder,  whence  their  expe- 
diiion  got  the  name  of  a  Crusade*^. 

Persons  of  all  ranks  flew  to  arms  with  the  utmost 
ardour.  Not  only  the  gallant  nobles  of  that  age,  with 
their  martial  followers,  whom  the  boldness  of  a  romantic 
enterprize  might  have  been  apt  to  allure,  but  men  in  the 
more  humble  and  pacific  stations  of  life  j  ecclesiastics 
of  every  order,  and  even  women,  concealing  their  sex 
beneath  the  disguise  of  armour,  engaged  with  emula- 
tion in  an  undertaking  which  was  deemed  so  sacred  and 
meritorious.  The  greatest  criminals  were  forward  in 
a  service,  which  they  regarded  as  a  propitiation  for  all 
their  crimes.  If  they  succeeded,  they  hoped  to  make 
their  fortune  in  this  world  ;  and  if  they  died,  they  were 
promised  a  crown  of  glory  in  the  world  to  come.  De- 
votion, passion,  prejudice,  and  habit,  all  contributed 
to  the  same  end;  and  the  combination  of  so  many 
causes  produced  that  wonderful  emigration  which  made 
the  princess  Anna  Comnena  say,  that  Europe,  loosen- 
ed from  its  foundations,  and  impelled  by  its  moving 
principle,  seemed  in  one  united  body  to  precipitate 
itself  upon  Asia^. 

The  number  of  adventurers  soon  became  so  great, 
that  their  more  experienced  leaders,  Hugh,  count  of 
Vermandois,  brother  to  the  French  king;  Robert,  duke 

6.  Theod.  Ruinart.  in  Vit.  Urhani  II.     Baron.  Amal.  Eccles.  torn.  xi. 
r.  Alexias,  lib.  x. 

VOL.  I.  (^q  of 


266  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

of  Normandy  :  Raymond,  count  of  Thoulouse  ;  Godfrev, 
of  Bouillon,  prince  of  Brabant;   and  Stephen,  count  of 
Blois;  grew  apprehensive  that  the  greatness  of  the  arma- 
ment would  defeat  its  purpose.    They  there- 

A.  u.  1069.   r  •.,    ,  r     •    r       i        "u-^     , 

lore   permitted  an   undiscipuned  multitude, 

computed  at  three  hundred  thousand  men,  to  go  before 
them,  under  the  command  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  Walter 
the  Moneyless,  and  other  wild  fanatics. 

Peter  and  his  army,  before  which  he  walked  with 
sandals  on  his  feet,  a  rope  about  his  waist,  and  every 
other  mark  of  monkish  austerity,  took  the  road  to 
Constantinople,  through  Hungary  and  Bulgaria.  Go- 
descald,  a  German  priest,  and  his  banditti,  took  the 
same  route ;  and  trusting  that  Heaven,  by  supernatural 
means  would  supply  all  their  necessities,  they  made  no 
provision  for  subsistence  on  their  march.  But  they 
soon  found  themselves  obliged  to  obtain  by  plunder, 
what  they  had  vainly  expected  from  miracles.  Want 
is  ingenious  in  suggesting  pretences  for  its  supply. 
Their  fury  first  discharged  itself  upon  the  Jews.  As 
the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  thought  themselves 
authorised  to  take  revenge  upon  his  murderers:  they 
accordingly  fell  upon  those  unhappy  people,  and  put  to 
the  sword  without  mercy  such  as  would  not  submit  to 
baptism,  seising  their  effects  as  lawful  prize.  In  Bava- 
ria alone  twelve  thousand  Jews  were  massacred,  and 
many  thousands  in  the  other  provinces  of  Germany. 
But  Jews  not  being  every  where  to  be  found,  these  pious 
robbers,  who  had  tasted  the  sweets  of  plunder,  and  were 
under  no  military  regulations,  pillaged  without  distinc- 
tion; until  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  through 
which  they  passed,  rose  and  cut  them  almost  all  off. 
The  Hermit,  however,  and  the  remnant  of  his  army, 
consisting  of  twenty  thousand  starving  wretches,  at 
length  reached  Constantinople,  where  he  received  a 
fresh  supply  of  German  and  Italian  vagabonds,  who 
were  guilty  of  the  greatest  disorders,  pillaging  even  the 
chruches^. 


8.  Maimbourg,  Hist,  des  Croisades,  torn.  i. 

Alexis 


LET.  XXIV.]         MODERN   EUROPE.  267 

Alexis   Comnenus,    the    Greek    emperor,    who  had 

applied  to   the  Latins   for  succour  against  the  Turks, 

entertained  a  hope,   and  but  a  feeble  one,   of  obtaining 

such  an  aid  as  might  enable  him  to  repulse  the  enemy. 

He    was,  therefore,    astonished    to    see  his    dominions 

overwhelmed  by  an  inundation  of  licentious  barbarians, 

strangers   alike  to  order  and  discipline,   and  to  hear  of 

the    multitudes    that    were    following,    under    different 

leaders.      He  contented  himself,  however,  with  getting 

rid,  as  soon  as  possible,  of  such  troublesome  guests,  by 

furnishing  them  with  vessels  to  transport  themselves  to 

the   other  side   of  the   Bosphorus  ;   and   general   Peter 

soon  saw  himself  in  the  plains  of  Asia,  at  the  head  of  a 

Christian  army,   ready  to   give   battle  to   the    infidels. 

Soliman,    sultan    of    Nice,    fell    upon    the    disorderly 

crowd,  and  slaughtered  them  almost  without  resistance. 

"SValter    the    Moneyless,   and    many    other   leaders    of 

equal  distinction,   were   slain  ;    but  Peter  the    Hermit 

found  his  way  back   to    Constantinople,   where  he  \\'as 

considered  as  a  maniac,  who  had  enlisted  a  multitude 

of  madmen  to  follow  him*^. 

In   the    mean    time    the    more  disciplined    armies 

arrived  at  the  imperial  city,  and  were  there 

•    •       Ji      TJ    I  J  fX>    1       .r-  J     A.  D.  1097. 

jomedbyi3oliemond,son  oi  Kobert  Guiscard, 

from  motives  of  policy  rather  than  piety.       Having  no 

other  inheritance  but  the  small  principality  of  Tarentum, 

and  his  own  valour,  he  took  advantage  of  the  epidemical 

enthusiasm  of  the  times  to  assemble  under  his  banner 

ten  thousand  horsemen,  well  armed,  and  some  infantry, 

with  which  he  hoped  to  conquer  a  few  provinces  either 

from  the  Christians  or  Mahometans.    His  presence  gave 

much    alarm  to   the    emperor   Alexis  Comnenus,    with 

whom  he   had  been  formerly  at  war.      But  the  refined 

policy  of  that  prince,   who   carressed  those   rapacious 

allies  whom    he  wished  to  ruin,  and  secretly  regarded 

as   more    dangerous   than   the    enemies   they  came    to 


9.  Anna  Comnena,  uhi  sup. 


combatj 


268  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

combat,  diverted  all  apprehensions  of  harm  either  from 
Bohemond  or  the  o  her  leaders  of  the  crusade.  He 
furnished  them  with  provisions,  and  transported  them 
saiely  into  Asia:  after  having  conciliated  their  aftections 
by  presents  and  promises,  and  engaged  them  to  do  him 
homage  for  the  lands  they  should  conquer  from  the 
Turks". 

Asia,  like  Europe,  was  then  divided  into  a  number 
of  little  states,  comprehended  under  the  great  ones.  The 
Turkish  prmces  paid  an  empty  homage  to  the  caliphs, 
but  were  in  reality  their  masters  ;  and  the  sultans,  or 
soldans,  who  were  very  numerous,  weakened  still 
farther  the  empire  of  Mahomet  by  continual  wars 
with  each  other,  the  necessary  consequence  of  divided 
sway.  The  soldiers  of  the  cross,  therefore,  who 
amounted,  when  mustered  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus, 
to  the  incredible  number  of  one  hundred  thousand 
horsemen,  and  six  hundred  thousand  foot,  were  sufficient 
to  have  conquered  all  Asia,  had  they  been  united  under 
one  head,  or  commanded  by  leaders  that  observed  any 
concert  in  their  operations.  But  they  were  unhappily 
conducted  by  men  of  the  most  independent,  intractable 
spirit,  unacquainted  with  discipline,  and  enemies  to  civil 
or  military  subordination.  Their  zen\,  however,  their 
bravery,  and  their  irresistable  force,  still  carried  them 
forward,  and  advanced  them  to  the  great  end  of  their 
enterprize,  in  spite  of  every  obstacle  ;  the  scarcitv  of 
provisions,  the  excesses  of  fatigue,  and  the  influence  of 
unknown  climes.  After  an  obstinate  siege,  they  took 
,,^  Nice,  the  seat  of  old  Soliman,  the  sultan  of 
byna,  whose  army  they  had  twice  deieated  : 
they  had  made  themselves  masters  of  Antioch,  the  seat 
of  another  sultan,  and  entirely  broke  the  strength  of  the 
Turks,  who  h.ad  so  long  tyrannised  over  the  Arabs  '. 

The  caliph  of  Egypt,  whose  alliance  the  Christians 
had  hitherto    courted,    recovered,    on   the    fall  of  the 

10.  Maimbourg,  ubi  sup.     11.  Dach.  Specileg.  vol.  iv.  Maimbourg,  torn.  i. 

Turkish 


LET.  XXIV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  26^ 

Turkish  power,  the  authority  of  the  caliphs  of  Jerusalein. 
On  this  he  sent  ambassadors  to  the  leaders  ot  the 
crusade,  informing  them,  that  they  might  now  perform 
their  religious  vows,  if  they  came  disarmed  to  that  city, 
and  that  all  Christian  pilgrims,  who  should  thencelorth 
visit  the  holy  sepulchre,  might  expect  the  same  good 
treatment  which  they  had  ever  received  from  his  prede- 
cessors. His  oft'er  was,  however,  rejected.  He  was 
required  to  yield  up  the  city  to  the  Christians  ;  and,  on 
his  refusal,  the  champions  of  the  Cross  advanced  to  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  the  great  object  of  their  armament, 
and  the  acquisition  of  which  they  considered  as  the 
consummation  of  their  labours. 

These  pious  adventurers  were  now  much  diminished 
by  the  detachments  they  had  made,  and  the  disasters 
they  had  suffered :  and  what  seems  almost  incredible, 
they  did  not  exceed,  according  to  the  testimony  of  most 
historians,  twenty  thousand  foot,  and  fifteen  hundred 
horse,  while  the   garrison  of  Jerusalem  con-  ioy9. 

sisted  of  forty  thousand  men.  But,  be  that 
as  it  may,  after  a  siege  of  five  weeks,  they  took  the  city 
by  assault,  and  put  the  garrison  and  inhabitants  to  the 
sword,  without  distinction.  Arms  protected  net  the 
brave,  or  submission  the  timid:  no  age  or  sex  was  spared: 
infants  perished  by  the  same  sword  that  pierced  their 
mothers,  while  imploring  mercy.  The  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem were  covered  with  heaps  of  slain;  and  the  shrieks 
of  agony  or  despair  still  resounded  from  every  house, 
when  these  triumphant  warriors,  glutted  with  slaughter, 
threw  aside  their  arms,  yet  streaming  with  blood,  and 
advanced  with  naked  feet,  and  bended  knees,  to  the 
sepulchre  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  !  sung  anthems  to  that 
Redeemer,  who  had  purchased  their'  salvation  by  his 
death  ;  and,  while  dead  to  the  calamities  of  their  fellow- 
creatures,  dissolved  in  tears  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
Messiah  ''I — So  inconsistent  is  human  nature  with  itself; 

12.  M.  Paris.  Order.  Vital.  Vertot,  Hist,  de  Cbev.  de  Malt.  torn.  i. 

and 


aro  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

and  so  easily,  as  the  philosophic  Hume  remarks,  does 
the  mobt  effeminate  superstition  associate  both  with  the 
most  heroic  courage,  and  with  the  fiercest  barbarity. 

About  the  same  time  that  this  great  event  happened 
in  Asia,  where  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  M'^as  chosen  king  of 
Jerusalem,  and  Bohemond,  and  some  other  Christian 
princes,  settled  in  their  new  conquests,  Url)an  II.  the 
author  of  the  crusade,  and  the  queen  of  France,  died  in 
Europe.  In  consequence  of  these  deaths,  Philip  I.  who 
still  continued  to  live  with  the  countess  of  Anjou,  was 
absolved,  by  the  new  pope,  from  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication denounced  in  the  council  of  Clermont.  But 
although  this  absolution  quieted  in  some  measure  his 
domestic  troubles,  his  authority,  which  the  thunder  of 
the  church,  together  with  his  indolent  and  licentious 
course  of  life,  had  ruined,  was  far  from  being  restored. 
The  nobility  more  and  more  affected  independency;  they 
insulted  him  every  hour;  plundered  his  subjects,  and 
entirely  cut  off  the  communication  between  Paris  and 
Orleans '3. 

In  order  to   remedy  these   evils,   Philip   associated 

his    son   Lewis   in   the    government;   or,   at 

A.  D.  1100.  ,  ,     1        I    u-  -.u    *u  J     c 

least,    declared    him,    wath    the   consent   ot 

the  nobility,  his  successor.  This  young  prince  was, 
in  all  respects,  the  reverse  of  his  father;  active,  vigor- 
ous, affable,  generous,  and  free  from  the  vices  incident 
to  youth.  He  saw  that  in  a  state  so  corrupted,  nothing 
could  be  done  but  by  force:  he  therefore  kept  continu- 
ally in  the  field,  with  a  small  body  of  troops  about  him, 
and  these  he  employed  against  such  nobles  as  would 
not  listen  to  the  dictates  of  justice  and  equity,  but 
treated  the  laws  of  their  country  with  derision.  He 
demolished  their  castles;  he  compelled  them 
^*  ^'  '  to  make  restitution  to  such  as  they  had  pil- 

laged, and  he  forced  them  to  abandon  the  lands  they  had 
usurped  from  the  clergy:  yet  all  these  rigours  he  exe- 

13.  Order.  Vital.  Mezeray. 

cuted 


LET.  XXIV.]       MODERN   EUROPE.  271 

cutecl  in  a  manner  so  disinterested,  and  with  so  indis- 
putable a  zeal  for  the  public  welfare,  that  he  gained  the 
affections  of  the  virtuous  part  of  the  nobility,  and  the 
reverence  of  the  people,  while  he  restored  order  to  the 
state,  and  preserved  the  monarchy  from  subversion  *. 

This  prince,  who  is  commonly  called  by  the  old 
historians  Lewis  the  Gross,  from  his  great  size  in  the 
latter  part  of  life,  and  who  was  the  sixth  Lewis  that  sat 

upon    the   throne  of  France,   succeeded  his 

i-    1         •      ..  11  1  •  r-  A.  D.  1108. 

father  m  1108,  when  he  was  thirty  years  ot 

age.  Soon  after  his  coronation,  he  engaged  in  a  war 
against  Henry  L  of  England,  a  powerful  vassal,  whom 
it  was  his  interest  to  humble.  The  war  was  carried  on 
with  a  variety  of  fortunes  during  the  greater  part  of  this 
reign,  but  without  producing  any  remarkable  eyent,  ex- 
cept what  I  have  related  in  the  'history  of  England,  or 
any  alteration  in  the  state  of  either  kingdom'^. 

A  peace  was  at  length  concluded  between  the  two 
rival    princes;    after   which    Lewis    devoted 

A.  D.  1 1  ''8 

himself  to  the  regulation  of  the  interior  polity 
of  his  kingdom,  and  either  humbled  or  overawed  the 
great  vassals  of  the  crown,  so  as  to  procure  universal 
tranquillity.  This  he  accomplished,  partly  by  establish- 
ing the  commons  or  third  state;  partly  by  enfranchising 
the  villains  or  bondmen;  and  partly  by  diminishing  the 
exorbitant  authority  of  the  seignioral  jurisdictions;  send- 
ing commissaries  into  the  provinces  to  receive  the  com- 
plaints and  redress  the  wrongs  of  such  as  had  been 
oppressed  by  the  dukes  and  counts,  and  every  where 
encouraging  appeals  to  the  royal  judges. — But  the  king 
of  France,  in  the  midst  of  his  prosperity,  fell  into  a  lan- 
guishing disorder,  occasioned  by  his  excessive  corpu- 
lency; and  when  he  thought  his  death  at  hand,  he 
ordered  his  son  to  be  called  to  him,  and  gave  him  the 
following  excellent  advice.  "  By  this  sign,"  said  he, 
(drawing  the  signet  from  his   finger,   and  putting  it  on 

14.  Order.  Vital.  Sug.  Vit.  Lud.  Groul.     15.  See  Letter  XXIII. 

that 


27a  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

that  of  the  prince)  "  I  invest  you  with  sovereign  au- 
**  thorityj  but  remember,  that  it  is  nothing  but  a  public 
*'  employment,  to  which  you  are  called  by  Heaven,  and 
*'  for  the  exercise  of  which  you  must  render  an  account 
*'  in  the  world  to  come'^." 

The  king  unexpectedly  recovered;  but  he  would  never 
afterwards  use  anv  of  the  ensigns  of  royalty. 

A.  ,  ".,  ,  ,  .       ,       P  ,  .      A.  D.  1137» 

n  accident  contributed  to  the  revival  oi  his 

strength.  William,  dulce  of  Guienne,  and  earl  of  Poi- 
tou,  resolved  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
James  of  Compostella,  bequeathed  his  extensive  territo- 
ries to  his  daugiiter  Eleanor,  on  condition  that  she  mar- 
ried young  Lewis,  already  crowned  king  of  France,  at 
the  desire  of  his  father;  and  the  duke  dying  in  that 
pilgrimage,  the  marriage  was  celebrated  with  great  pomp 
at  Bourdeaux,  where  Lewis  VIL  was  solemnly  inaugu- 
rated as  lord  of  Guienne  and  Poitou'7. 

In  the  mean  time  Lewis  VI.  unable  to  support  the 
heat  of  the  dog-days,  died  at  Paris  on  the  first  of  August, 
in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirtieth  of  his 
reign.  A  better  man,  historians  agree,  never  graced 
the  throne  of  France;  but  with  the  addition  of  certain 
qualities,  his  countrymen  say  he  might  have  made  a  bet- 
ter king.  Posterity,  however,  may  not  perhaps  be  incli- 
ned to  think  worse  of  his  character,  when  they  are  told 
that  the  qualities  he  wanted  were  hypocrisy  and  dissimu- 
lation, and  that  his  vices  were  honesty  and  sincerity:  which 
led  him  to  despise  flattery,  and  indulge  himself  in  a 
manlv  freedom  of  speech. 

We  should  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  histo- 
ry of  England;  but  the  second  crusade,  which  was  con- 
ducted by  the  sovereigns  of  France  and  Germany,  makes 
it  necessary  to  carry  farther  the  affairs  of  the  continent. 

16.  Su?.  Vit.  Lud.  Gi-osse.  Henault,  Hist.  torn.  i.        17.  Id.  ibid. 

LETTER 


lET.  XXV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  273 


LETTER  XXV. 


tHE  GERMAN   EMPIRE  AND  ITS  DEPENDENCIF  K,  I!OMK  AND   THE 
ITALIAN  STATES,  FROM     THE    DEATH     OFHINRY    V.    TO   THE 
ELECTION    OF    FREDERICK    I.   SURNAMED    BARBAR03SA. 


As  Henry  V.  left  no  issue,  it  was  universally 
believed  that  the  states  would  confer  the  empire  on  one 
of  his  nephews,  Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  or  Frederic, 
duke  of  Suabia,  who  were  princes  of  great  merit ;  but 
Albert,  archbishop  of  Mentz,  found  means  to  influence 
the  German  chiefs  to  give  their  suffrages  i"  ^  1125. 
favour  of  Lothario,  duke  of  Saxe-Supplem- 
bourg,  who  had  supported  him  in  all  his  contests  with  the 
late  emperor,  Lothario  was  accordingly  crowned  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  presence  of  the  pope's  nuncio.  Mean- 
while his  two  competitors  neglected  nothing  in  their  power 
to  obtain  the  throne.  But  after  a  short  opposition,  which 
was,  however,  obstinate  and  bloody,  they  dropped  their 
pretensions,  and  were  reconciled  to  Lothario,  who  after- 
wards honoured  them  with  his  friendship.' 

The  first  expedition  of  the  new  emperor  was  against 
the  Bohemians,  whom  he  obliged  to  sue  for  peace,  and 
do  homage  to  the  empire.  He  next  marched  into  Ital)', 
where  the  ecclesiastical  affairs,  as  usual,  were  r>  i  -t  qq 
in  much  disorder.  Innocent  IL  had  succeeded 
Honorius  II.  by  virtue  of  a  canonical  election  ;  notwith- 
standing which  cardinal  Leoni,  the  grandson  of  a  weal- 
thy Jew,  was  also  proclaimed  pope  by  the  name  of  Ana- 
cletus,  and  kept  possession  of  Rome  by  means  of  his  mo- 
ney, whilst  his  rival  was  obliged  to  retire  into  France,  the 
common  asylum  of  distressed  popes.      Lo-  11 -^o 

thario  espoused  the  cause  of  Innocent,  with      *     *  - 

1.  Annal  dc  I'Emp  .  tom.  5.  Heis.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi. 

VOL.  I,  II  r  whom 


3r4  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  r, 

whom  he  had  an  interview  at  Liege  ;  accompanied  him^ 
to  Rome  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  re-est;iblibhed  him 
in  the  papal  chair,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  and  oppo- 
sition of  Anacletus\ 

After  being  solemnly  crowned  at  Rome,  the  emperor 
returned  to  Germany  ;  where,  by  the  advice  ol  Ernerius, 
a  learned  professor  of  the  Roman  law,  he  ordered  that 
justice  should  be  administered  in  the  empire  according 
to  the  Digesta,  or  Code  of  Justinian,  a  copy  of  which  was, 
about  this  time,  found  in  Italy^  In  the  mean  time,  Roger,, 
duke  of  Apulia,  who  had  lately  conquered  the  island  of 
Sicily,  raised  an  army  in  favour  of  Anacletus,  and  made 
himself  inaster  of  almost  all  the  places  belonging  to  the 
holy  see.  Pope  Innocent  retired  to  Pisa,  which  was  then 
one  of  the  most  considerable  trading  cities  in  Europe,  and 
again  implored  the  assistance  of  Lothario.  The  empe- 
ror did  not  desert  him  in  his  adversity:  he  immediately 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army;  and^  by  the 
help  of  the  Pisans,  the  imperial  forces  soon  recovered  all 
--^w  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Pope  Inno- 
cent  was  re-conducted  in  triumph  to  Rome  t 
a  circumstance  which  so  much  affected  Anacletus,  that 
he  fell  a  martyr  to  the  success  of  his  competitor,  literally 
dying  of  grief. 

The  emperor  afterwards  drove  Roger,  duke  of  Apu- 
lia, from  city  to  city;  and,-  at  length,  obliged  him  to 
take  refuge  in  Sicily,   his  new  kingdom.      He  then   sub- 

^   dued  the  provinces  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  and 
A.  D.  11 3Q,  . 

■*  all  Roger's  Italian  dominions,  which  he  formed 

into  a  principality,  and  bestowed  it,  with  the  title  of  duke, 
upon  Renaud,  a  German  prince,  and  one  of  his  own  re- 
lations. 


2.  Jean  de  Laiines,  Hist,  du  roniijicat.  ilu  Pope  Innocent  JI. 

3.  On  this  subject,  -which  is  involved  in  controversy,  see  Hen.  Brench- 
roajin,  IJlst.  Pandect.     Murat.  AiUiq.  Ital.  torn.  ii. 

Oil 


LET.  XXV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  i7S 

On  his  way  to  Germany,  Lothario  was  seized  with 
a  dangerous  distemper,  which  carried  him  off,  near  Trent, 
in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign.  He  was  distinguished 
by  a  passionate  love  of  peace,  and  an  exact  attention  to 
the  administration  of  public  justice. 

Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  nephew  to  Henry  V. 
was  unaniinously  elected  emperor,  on  the  death  of  Lo- 
thario. But  the  imperial  throne  was  disputed  by  Henry 
the  Haughty,  duke  of  Bavaria,  the  name  of  whose 
family  was  Guelph;  hence  those  who  espoused  his  party 
were  called  Guelphs,  an  appellation  afterwards  usually 
bestowed  on  the  enemies  of  the  emperors. 

Henry  the  Haughty  died  during  this  contest,  after 
being  divested  of  his  dominions  by  the  princes  1 1  /Lr» 

of  the  empire  ;  but  the  war  was  still  carried 
on  against  the  emperor  by  Guelph,  the  duke's  brother, 
and  Roger,  king  of  Sicily.  The  imperial  army  was 
commanded  by  Frederic,  duke  of  Suabia,  the  emperor's 
brother,  who  being  born  at  the  village  of  Hieghibelin, 
gave  to  his  soldiers  the  name  of  Ghibelins;  an  epithet 
by  which  the  imperial  party  was  distinguished  in  Italy, 
while  the  pope's  adherents  grew  famous  under  that  of 
Guelphs'. 

Guelph,  and  his  principal  followers,  were  besieged 
in  the  castle  of  Weinsberg;  and  having  sustained  great 
loss  in  a  sally,  they  were  obliged  to  surrender  at  discre- 
tion. The  emperor,  however,  instead  of  using  his  goQd 
fortune  with  rigour,  granted  the  duke,  and  his  chief 
officers,  permission  to  retire  unmolested.  But  the  duch- 
ess, suspecting  the  generosity  of  Conrad,  with  whose 
enmity  against  her  husband  she  was  well  acquainted, 
begged  that  she,  and  the  other  women  in  the  castle, 
might  be  allowed  to  come  out  with  as  much  as  each  of 
them  could  carry,  and  be  conducted  to  a  place  of  safety. 
Her  request  was  granted,  and  the  evacuation  was  imme- 

4,  Anna!,  de  l'£mp.  torn.  i.    5.  Mura     Dissertat.  dc  Guelph.  et  Gidbel. 
Sigon.  lib.  xi.  Krant.  Sax.  lib.  viii. 

diately 


276  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

diutely  performed;  wh<:'n  llie  erriperor  and  his  army,  vho 

expected  to  see  every  lady  loaded  will)  jewels,  gold,  and 

silver,  beheld,  to  their  astonishment,  the  duehess  and  her 

_  ^    _     fair    companions,    staffp-erinjr    beneath    the 

A. D. 1141.  .  , 

weight  of  their  husbands.  7  he  tears  ran 
down  Conrad's  cheeks:  he  applauded  their  conjugal  ten- 
derness, and  an  accommodation  with  Guelph  and  his 
adherents,  was  the  consequence  of  this  act  of  female 
heroism^. 

"While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Germany, 
new  disorders  broke  out  in  Italv.  The  people  of  Rome 
formed  a  design  of  re-establishing  the  commonwealth  ; 
of  rctrie\  ijig  the  sovereignty  of  their  city,  and  abolish- 
ing the  temporal  dominion  of  the  popes.  Lucius  II. 
_,    ,       marched  against  the  rebels,   and  was  killed 

A.    D.    1 145. 

at  the  foot  of  the  capiiol;  but  Eugenius  III. 
his  successor,  found  means  to  reduce  them  to  reason, 
and  prL-serve  the  authority  of  the  apostolic  see'. 

This  pope  afterwards  countenanced  the  second  cru- 
sade against  the  Saracens,  preached  by  St.  Bernard,  in 
which  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  France,  engaged,  as 

1  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  r<'late.   Another 
K.  D.  1147. 

crubiide  was  preached  against  the    Moors    in 

Spain,  in  wliich  a  great  number  of  Germans,  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Rhine  and  Weser,  engaged;  and 
the  Saxons,  about  the  same  time,  undertook  a  crusade 
against  the  pagans  of  the  north,  whom  they  cut  off  in 
thousands,    without  making  one  convert'. 

Nothing  remarkable   happened   in   the  empire,  after 
the    return   of  Conrad   III.    from    the    east,    except  the 
death  of  prince  Henry,  his  eldest  son,  who  had  been  elect- 
ed king  of  the  Romans.      This  event  greatly 
affected  the  emperor,  who  died   soon   after  ; 
and  his  nephew  Frederic,  surnamtd  Barbarossa,  duke  of 

6.  Heis.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xii.      7.  Fleury,  Elst.  Lccles.  vol.  xiv.  Mosheim, 
Jiiit-  Ecdes.  vol.  iii.       8.  Id.   ibid. 

Suabia, 


LET.  XXVI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  .27r 

Suabia,  was  raised  to  the  imperial  throne  by  the  unani- 
mous voice  of  tlie  princes  and  nobles  both  of  Italy  and 
Germany. 


LETTER  XXVI. 


FRANCE  U^-DER  LEWIS  VII.  TILL  THE  DIVORCE  OF  qUEEN 
ELEANOR,  WITH  SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  SECOND  CRUSADE. 


l^EWIS  VII.  surnamed  the  Young,  was  no 
sooner  seated  on  the  throne  of  France,  than  he  found 
himself  engaged  in  one  of  those  civil  wars,  which  the 
feudal  Q-overnment  rendered  unavoidable;  and  ^  ^  ^„ 

A.  D    1 137 

having,   in   an   expedition   into   Champagne, 
made  himself  master  of  the  town  of  Vitri,  he  ordered  it 
to  be  set  on   fire.      In   consequence  of  the   conHagration 
that  followed,  thirteen  hundred  persons,  who 

.  A.  D.  1 143 

had  taken  refuge  in  the  church,  all  perished 
in  the  flames  .      This   cruel  action  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  the  king's  mind,  and  prepared  the  way  for  a 
second  crusade,  which  now  demands  our  attention. 

The  Christians  of  the  east  grew  weaker  every  day 
in  those  countries  which  they  had  conquered.  The  little 
kingdom  of  Edessa  had  already  been  taken  by  the  Turks, 
and  Jerusalem  itself  was  threatened.  Europe  was  solicit- 
ed for  a  new  armament;  and  as  the  French  had  begun 
the  first  inundation,  they  were  again  applied  to,  in  hopes 
of  a  second. 

Pope  Eugenius  III.   to  whom  the  deputies  from  the 
east  had  been  sent,  very  wisely  pitched  upon 
Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  as  the  instru- 
ment of  this  pious   warfare.     Bernard  was  learned  for 

1.  Gul.  Tyr.  Gest,  Ludovlc.  VII. 

those 


278  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

those  times,  naturally  eloquent,  austere  in  his  life,  irre- 
proachable in  his  morals,  enthusiastically  zealous  and  in- 
flexible in  his  purpose.  He  had  long  held  the  reputation 
of  a  saint,  was  heard  as  an  oracle,  and  revered  as  a  pro- 
phet ;  little  wonder,  therefore,  that  he  found  means  to 
persuade  the  king  of  France,  that  there  was  no  other 
method  of  expiating  his  guilt  but  by  an  expedition  to  the 
Holy  Land. 

At  Vezelai  in  Burgundy,  a  scaffold  was  erected  in  the 
market-place,  on  which  St.  Bernard  appear- 
'  ed  by  the  side  of  Lewis  VIL      The  saint 
spoke  first,  the  king  seconded  him,  after  taking  the  cross, 
and  the  example  of  the  royal  pair  was  followed  by  all  pre- 
sent, among  whom  were  many  of  the  chief  nobility\ 

Suger,  abbot  of  St.  Dennis,  then  prime  minister,  a 
man  very  different  from  Bernard,  endeavoured  in  vain  to 
dissuade  the  king  from  abandoning  his  dominions,  by  tel- 
ling him  that  he  might  make  a  much  more  suitable  atone- 
ment for  his  guilt  by  staying  at  home  and  governing  his 
kingdom  in  a  wise  and  prudent  manner.  The  eloquence 
of  St.  Bernard,  and  the  madness  of  the  times,  prevailed 
over  reason  and  sound  policy.  Suger,  however,  retained 
his  opinion;  and  made  no  scruple  of  foretelling  the  incon- 
veniencies  that  would  attend  an  expedition  into  Palestine, 
whilst  Bernard  made  himself  answerable  for  its  success, 
and  extolled  it  with  an  enthusiasm  that  passed  for  inspira- 
tion. 

From  France  this  fanatical  orator  went  to  preach  the 
crusade  in  Germany;  where,  by  the  force  of  his  irresisti- 
ble eloquence,  he  prevailed  on  the  emperor  Conrad  IIL 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  afterwards  emperor,  and  an  in- 
finite number  of  persons  of  all  ranks,  to  take  the  cross  ; 
promising  them,  in  the  name  of  God,  victory  over  the 
Infidels.  He  ran  from  city  to  city,  every  where  com- 
municating his  enthusiasm  ;  and,  if  we  believe  the 
historians  of  those  times,  working  miracles.  It  is  not 
indeed  pretended  that  he  restored  the  dead  to  life  ;  but 

2.  Epiit.  Ludovie.  ad  Suger. 

the 


LET.  XXVI.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  279 

the  blind  received  sight,  the  lame  walked,  the  sick  were 
healed.  And  to  these  bold  assertions,  we  may  add  a  fact 
no  less  incredible,  that  while  St.  Bernard's  eloquence 
operated  so  powerfully  on  the  minds  of  the  Germans,  he 
always  preached  to  them  in  French,  a  language  which 
they  did  not  understand  1  or  in  Latin,  equally  unintelli- 
gible to  the  body  of  the  people^. 

The  hopes  of  certain  victory  drew  after  the  emperor 
and  the  king  of  France  the  greater  part  of  the  knights  in 
their  dominions  :  and  it  is  said,  that  in  each  army  there 
were  reckoned  seventy  thousand  men  in  complete 
armour  :  with  a  prodigious  number  of  light  horse, 
besides  infantry  ;  so  that  we  cannot  well  reduce  this 
second  emigi-ation  to  less  than  three  hundred  thousand 
persons.  And  these,  joined  to  one  million  three  hundred 
thousand  sent  before,  make  in  the  whole  sixteen  hundred 
thousand  transplanted  inhabitants. 

The  Germans  took  the  field  first,  the  French  follow- 
ed them :  and  the  same  excesses,  thathad  been  ^  ^  >  „ 

A.  D.  1 14/» 
committed  by  the  soldiers  of  the  first  crusade, 

were  acted  over  again  by  those  of  the  second.  Hence 
Manuel  Comnenus,  who  now  filled  the  throne  of  Con- 
stantinople, was  disquieted  with  the  same  apprehensions 
which  the  former  enterprize  had  raised  in  the  mind  of 
his  grandfather  Alexis.  If  the  Greek  emperor  behaved 
ungenerously  to  them,  it  must  therefore  be  ascribed  to 
the  irregularity  of  their  own  cotiduct,  which  made  craft 
necessary,  where  force  was  unequal  ;  especially  as 
Manuel  is  represented,  on  all  other  occasions,  as  a 
prince  of  great  generosity  and  magnanimity.  But  the 
mortality  which  prevailed  in  the  German  army,  near 
the  plains  of  Constantinople,  may  be  fully  accounted 
for  from  intemperance  and  the  change  of  climate,  with- 
out supposing  the  wells  to  be  poisoned  or  the  meal  to 
be  mingled  with  lime. 

After  Conrad  had  passed  the  Bosphorus,  he  acted 
ivith  that  imprudence  which   seems   inseparable   from 

3.  Henault.  Ckron,  Hist.  torn.  i.  Amal.  de  I'Emp.  torn.  i. 

such 


280  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

such  romantic  expeditions.  As  the  principality  of 
Antioch  was  yet  in  being,  he  might  have  joined  those 
christians  who  remained  in  Syria,  and  there  have  wait- 
ed for  the  king  of  France.  Their  numbers  united 
would  have  insured  them  success.  But  instead  of  such 
a  rational  measure,  the  emperor,  jealous  both  of  the 
prince  of  Antioch  and  the  king  of  France,  marched  im- 
mediately into  the  middle  of  Asia  Miner  ;  where  the 
sultan  of  Iconium,  a  more  experienced  general,    drew 

his  heavy  German  cavalry  amone  the  rocks, 
A.  D.  1148.  ' .  .        .        ' 

and  cut  his  army  in  pieces.      Conrad  fled  to 

Antioch  ;  went  to  Jerusalem  as  a  pilgrim,  instead  of  ap- 
pearing there  as  the  leader  of  an  army,  and  returned  to 
Europe  with  a  handful  of  men"*. 

The  king  of  France  was  not  more  successful  in  his 
enterprize.  He  fell  into  the  same  snare  that  had  deceiv- 
ed the  emperor  ;  and  being  surprised  among  the  rocks 
near  Laodicea,  was  worsted,  as  Conrad  had  been.  But 
Lewis  met  with  a  domestic  misfortune  that  gave  him 
more  uneasiness  than  the  loss  of  his  army.  Queen 
Eleanor  was  suspected  of  an  amour  with  the  prince  of 
Antioch,  at  whose  court  her  husband  had  taken  refuge. 
She  is  even  said  to  have  forgot  her  fatigues  in  the  arms 
of  a  voung  Turk  :  and  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  ex- 
pedition was,  that  Lewis,  like  Conrad,  returned  to  Europe 
with  the  wreck  of  a  great  army,  after  visiting  the  holy 
sepulchre,  and  being  dishonoured  by  his  pious  consort, 
whose  affection  and  zeal  led  her  to  embrace 

A.  D.  1149.     ,  ,  I.-         •    .        A    •    <:  I 

the  cross,  and  accompany  him  mto  Asta^  ! 
A  thousand  ruined  families  in  vain  exclaimed  against  St. 
Bernard  for  his  deluding  prophecies  :  he  excused  him- 
self bv  the  example  of  Moses  ;  who,  like  him,  he  said, 
had  promised  the  Israelites  to  conduct  them  into  a  happy 
country,  and  yet  saw  the  first  generation  perish  in  the 
desert. 

4.  Otho   (1e   Frising.     Gul.   Tyr.     Chron.    Murhiiac.      5.  Gul.  Tyr. 
Gest.  Ludovic.  VIL     Henault,  Chron.  Hist.  torn,  i, 

Lewi? 


MT.  XXVII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  281 

Lewis,  more  delicate  than  politic,  annulled  soon 
after  his  i-eturn,  his  marriage  with  queen  Eleanor,  who 
immediately  espoused  his  formidable  vassal,  Henry 
Plantagenet  duke  of  Normandy,  count  of  Anjou  and 
Maine,  and  presumptive  heir  to  the  crown  of  England; 
an  inheritance  which  the  accession  of  power  arising 
from  this  alliance  enabled  him  to  obtain,  while  France 
lost  the  fine  provinces  of  Guienne  and  Poitou,  the  here- 
ditary possessions  of  the  queen.  But  before  I  treat  of 
that  subject,  we  must  take  a  view  of  England  during  the 
introductory  reign. 


LETTER   XXVn. 


ENGLAIvD,   FROM    THE   DEATH   OF  HENRY   I.    TO   THE    ACCKSSION 
OF    HENRY  ir. 

XxENRY  L  my  dear  Philip,  as  you  have  had  occa- 
sion to  see,  left  his  dominions  by  will  to  his  daughter 
Matilda  ;  and  as  the  nobility,  both  of  England  and  Nor- 
mandv,   had   sworn   fealty   to    her,    she  had  ..^^ 

,       .    ,        .  n        1  A.  D.  1 lo5. 

reason  to  expect  the  mnentance  ot  both  states. 
But  the  aversion  of  the  feudal  barons  against  female 
succession,  prevailed  over  their  good  faith,  and  prepared 
the  way  for  the  usurpation  of  Stephen,  count  of  Boulogne, 
son  of  the  count  of  Blois,  and  grandson  of  the  conqueror, 
by  his  daughter  Adela. 

Stephen  was  a  prince  of  vigour  and  ability:  but  the 
manner  ia  which  he  had  obtained  the  crown  of  England, 
obliged  him  to  grant  exorbitant  privileges  to 
the  nobility  and  clergy,  who  might  be  said  to  *  * 
command  the  kingdom.  The  barons  built  and  fortified 
custles:  garrisoned  them  with  their  own  troops;  and 
when  offended,  bid  their  monarch  defiance,  while  wars 
between  themselves  was  carried  on  with  the  utmost  fury 

in 
yoL.  I.  i  9 


282  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

in  every  quarter.  They  even  assumed  the  right  of  coin- 
ing money,  and  of  exercising,  virithout  appeal,  every  act  of 
jurisdiction;  and  the  inferior  gentry,  and  the  people,  find- 
ing no  guardianship  from  the  laws  during  this  total  dis- 
solution of  sovereign  authority,  were  obliged  to  pay  court 
to  some  neighbouring  chieftain,  and  to  purchase  his 
protection,  not  only  by  yielding  to  his  exactions,  but  by 
assisting  him  in  his  rapine  upon  others' . 

While  things  continued  in  this  distracted  situation, 
David  king  of  Scotland  appeared  at  the  head  of  a 
considerable  army,  in  defence  of  his  niece  Matilda's 
title;  and,  penetrating  into  Yorkshire,  laid  the  whole 
country  waste.  These  bai-barous  outrages  enraged  the 
northern  nobility,  who  might  otherwise  have  been  inclined 
to  join  him,  and  proved  the  ruin  of  Matilda's  cause. 
The  earl  of  Albemarle,  and  other  powerful  nobles,  as- 
sembled an  army  at  North  Allerton,  where  a 
A.  D.  1138. 

*  great  battle  was  fought,  called  the  Battle  of  the 

Standard,  from  a  high  crucifix  erected  by  the  English  on  a 
waggon,  and  carried  along  with  the  army,  as  a  military 
ensign.  The  Scots  were  routed  with  great  slaughter,  and 
the  king  narrowly  escaped  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  army'. 

This  success  over-awed  the  malecontents  in  England, 
and  might  have  given  stability  to  Stephen's  throne,  had  he 
not  been  so  elated  by  prosperity  as  to  engage  in  a  a  contest 
with  the  clergy,  who  were  at  that  time  an  over-match  for 
any  monarch.  They  acted  entirely  as  barons;  fortified 
castles,  employed  military  power  against  their  sovereign 
or  their  neighbours,  and  thereby  increased  those  disor- 
ders which  it  was  their  duty  to  prevent,  v/hile  they  claim- 
ed an  exemption  from  all  civil  jurisdiction,  and  atti'acted 
popularity  by  the  sacredness  of  their  character.  The 
bishop  of  Salisbury,  whose  castle  had  been 
*  seized  by  order  of  the  king,  appealed  to  the 
pope;   and  had  not  Stephen  and  his  partizans  employed 

1.  Gul.  Malmes.  Hist.   IS'ovel.  lib.  i.  2.  R.  IIar;ulst.  Ailred.  de  Bdl. 

Standard. 

menaces 


LET.  XXVII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  as3 

menaces,  and  even  shewn  a  disposition  of  executing 
vengeance  by  the  hands  of  the  soldiery,  affairs  had  in- 
stantly come  to  extremity  between  the  crown  and  the 
mitre. 

In  the  mean  time  Matilda,  encouraged  by  these  dis- 
contents, and  invited  by  the  rebellious  clerj?v,  ^ 

.  .  O'  '  Sept     10 

landed   in  England,  accompanied  by  Robert 

earl  of  Gloucester,  natural  son  of  the  late  king,  and  a  re- 
tinue of  an  hundred  and  forty  knights.  She  fixed  her 
residence  at  Arundel  castle,  whose  gates  v/ere  opened  to 
her  by  Adelais,  the  queen-dowager,  now  married  to 
William  de  Albini,  earl  of  Sussex.  Her  party  dailv  in- 
creased ;  she  was  soon  joined  by  several  barons  :  war 
raged  in  every  quarter  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  was  car- 
ried on  with  so  much  fury,  that  the  land  was 
left  untilled,  and  the  instruments  of  husbandry 
destroyed  or  abandoned.  A  grievous  famine,  the  natural 
consequence  of  such  disorders,  aifected  equally  both 
parties,  and  reduced  the  spoilers,  as  well  as  the  defenceless 
people,  to  the  most  extreme  want\ 

Things  were  in  this  deplorable  situation,  when  an 
unexpected  event  seemed  to  promise  some  mitigation  of 
the  public  calamities.  The  royal  army  was 
defeated  near  the  castle  of  Lincoln  ;  and 
Stephen  himself,  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  and  borne 
down  by  numbers,  was  made  captive,  after  displaying 
uncommon  efforts  of  valour.  He  was  conducted  to  Glou- 
cester, thrown  into  prison,  and  ignominiously  loaded 
with  irons.  But  he  was  soon  after  released  in  ex- 
change for  earl  Robert,  Matilda's  brother,  who  was  no  less 
the  soul  of  one  party  than  Stephen  was  of  the  other,  and 
the  civil  war  was  again  kindled  with  greater  fury  than 
ever'*. 

The  weakness  of  both  parties,  however,  at  last  pro- 
duced a  tacit  cessation  of  arms,  and  the  empress  Matilda 

3.  Chron.  Sax.  Gest.  ffrg.  SKflii^m.     U.  Ihir.iing.   lib.  viii. 

4.  Gul.  Malme?.   fJist.  N'ov.'\\b.n      lien,   ilunr.   lib.  viii. 

retired 


284  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

retired  into  Normandy.    But  an  event  soon  after  happen- 
^^.      ed,    which  threatened  a  revival  of  hostilities 

A.  D.   1148.    .         T-        ,         ,  „    .  TT  r  ^^       ■^  . 

in  li,nglana.  rnnce  Henry,  son  oi  Matilda 
and  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  had  reached  his  sixteenth  year, 
and  was  desirous  of  receiving  the  honour  of  knighthood 
from  his  grand  uncle,  David  king  of  Scotland.  For  thia 
purpose  he  passed  through  England  with  a  great  retinue, 
and  was  visited  by  the  most  considerable  of  his  partizans, 
whose  hopes  he  roused  by  his  dexterity  and  vigour  in 
all  manly  exercises,  and  his  prudence  in  every 
*  occurrence.  He  staid  some  time  in  Scotland, 
where  he  increased  in  reputation  ;  and  on  his  return  to 
Normandy,  he  was  invested  in  that  duchy  with  the  con- 
sent of  his  mother  Matilda.  His  father  died  the  following 
year,  when  Henry  took  possession  of  Anjou  and 
Maine,  and  espoused  the  heiress  of  Guienne 
and  Poitou,  who  had  been  married  sixteen  years  to  Lewis 
VII.  king  of  France,  but  v/hom  he  had  divorced,  as  I 
have  already  observed,  on  account  of  her  gallantries. 
This  marriage,  which  brought  Henry  a  great  accession  of 
power,  rendered  him  extremely  formidable  to  his  rival; 
and  the  prospect  of  his  rising  fortune  had  such  an  effect 
in  Engiai^d,  that  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  refused  to 
anoint  Eustace,  Stephen's  son,  as  his  successor,  and  made 
his  escape  beyond  sea,  to  avoid  the  fury  of  the  enraged 
inonarch\ 

As  soon  as  Henry  was  informed  of  these  dispositions 
^^  in  the  people,  he  invaded  England,  Stephen 
^'  advanced  with  a  superior  army  to  meet  him  : 
and  a  decisive  action  was  every  day  expected,  when  the 
great  men  on  both  sides,  terrified  with  the  prospect  of 
farther  bloodshed  and  confusion,  interposed  their  good 
offices,  and  set  on  foot  a  negociation  between  the  contend- 
ing princes.  The  death  of  Eustace,  which  happened  du- 
ring the  course  of  the  treat}-,  facilitated  its  conclusion; 
and  an  accommodation   was  at  last  settled,   by  which  it 

5.  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  xxvii.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  iSS  ^ 

was  agreed,  that  Stephen  should  possess  the  crown  during 
his  lite-time;  that  justice  should  be  administered  in  his 
name,  even  in  the  provinces  which  had  submitted  to  his 
rival;  and  that  Henry,  on  Stephen's  death,  should  suc- 
ceed to  the  kingdom  of  England,  and  William,  Stephen's 
son,  to  Boulogne  and  his  patrimonial  estate^ 

The  barons  all  swore  to  the  observance  of  this  treaty, 

and   did   homage    to    Henry    as  heir  of  the 

TT     •  T  .  1       r  ,    ,      A.D.  1154. 

crown,     lie  immediately  alter  evacuated  the 

kingdom  ;  and  Stephen's  death,  which  happened  next 
year,  prevented  those  jealousies  and  feuds,  which  were 
likely  to  have  ensued  in  so  delicate  a  situation.  The 
character  of  Stephen  is  differently  represented  by  histo- 
rians ;  but  all  allow,  that  he  possessed  industry,  activity, 
and  courage,  to  a  great  degree  ;  and  had  he  succeeded  by 
a  just  title,  he  seems  to  have  been  well  qualified  to  pro- 
mote the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  his  subjects,  notwith- 
standing the  miseries  that  England  suffered  under  his 
reign^. 

6.  Hen.  Hunt,  ubi  sup.  Anna!  Waverl.  M.  Paris.  J.  Brompton. 

7.  These  miseries  are  thus  described  by  a  cotemporary  hiftorian- 
«  All  England  wore  a  face  of  desolation  and  wretchedness.  Multitudes 
•'  abandoned  their  beloved  country  and  went  into  voluntary  exile  :  others, 
"  forsaking  their  own  houses,  built  sorry  huts  in  the  church-yards,  hoping 
"  for  protection  from  the  sacredness  of  the  place.  Whole  families,  after 
«'  sustaining  life  as  long  as  they  could,  by  eating  herbs,  roots,  and  the  flcth 
"  of  dogs  and  horses,  at  last  died  of  hunger  ; — and  you  might  see  many 
"  pleasant  villages  without  asingle  Inhabitant  of  either  sex."  Gett.  Reg. 
Stepb. 


LETTER 


n^  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paut  i. 


LETTER   XXVIII. 


IKCLAND,  DURING  THE  REIGN  OF   HENRY  11.  WITH  AN  ACCOUNT 
OF   THE   AFFAIRS    OF    FRANCE. 

1  HAVE  already  observed,  my  dear  Philip,  that 
Before  the  conquestof  England  by  the  duke  of  Normandy, 
this  island  was  as  distinct  from  tho  rest  of  the  world  in 
politics  as  situation.  The  English  had  then  neither  ene- 
mies nor  allies  on  the  continent.  But  the  foreign  dominions 
of  William  andhis  successor  connected  them  with  the  kings 
and  great  vassals  of  France  :  and  while  the  opposite  pre- 
tensions of  the  popes  and  the  emperors  in  Italy  produced 
a  continual  inlercouse  between  Germany  and  that  country, 
the  two  great  monarchs  of  France  and  England  formed, 
in  another  part  of  Europe,  a  separate  systein,  and  carried 
on  their  wars  and  negociations,  without  meeting  either 
with  opposition  or  support  from  their  neighbours  ;  the 
extensive  confederacies  by  which  the  European  poten- 
tates are  now  united,  and  made  the  guardians  of  each 
other,  being  then  totally  unknown.  No  wonder,  there- 
fore, that  Lewis  VII.  king  of  France,  observed  with 
terror  the  rising  greatness  of  the  house  of  Anjou  or 
Plantagenet,  whose  continental  dominions  composed 
above  a  third  of  the  whole  French  monarchy,  and 
which  gave  a  sovereign  to  England  in  the  person  of 
Henry  II.  The  jealousy  occasioned  by  this  alarming 
circumstance,  however,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see, 
not  only  saved  France  from  falling  a  prey  to  England, 
but  exalted  that  kingdom  to  the  pitch  of  grandeur  which 
it  has  so  long  enjoyed.  The  king  of  England  soon  be- 
came a  kind  of  foreigner  in  his  continental  dominions; 
and  the  other  powerful  vassals  of  the  French  crown,  in- 
stead of  being  roused  at  the  oppression  of  a  co-vassal, 
were  rather  pleased  at  the  expulsion  of  the  Anglo-Nor- 
mans. 

But 


XXVIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  287 

But  as  these  important  consequences  could  not  be  fore- 
seen by  human  wisdom,  the  king  of  France  had  maintain- 
ed a  strict  union  vith  Stephen,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
succession  of  Henry.  The  sudden  death  of  the  usurper, 
however,  rendered  abortive  all  the  schemes  of  Lewis. 
Henry  was  received  in  England  with  the  acclamations  of 
ail  orders  of  men,  who  joyfully  swore  to  him  the  oath  of 
allegiance  :  and  he  began  his  reign  with  re-establishing 
justice  and  good  order,  to  which  the  kingdom  had  been 
long  a  stranger.  For  this  purpose  he  dismissed  all  those 
foreign  mercenaries  retained  by  Stephen  ;  and  that  he 
might  restore  authority  to  the  laws,  he  caused  all  the  new- 
erected  castles,  which  had  proved  so  many  sanctuaries  tO 
rebels  and  free-booters,  to  be  demolished'.  In  order  yet 
farther  to  conciliate  the  affections  of  his  subjects,  he 
voluntarily  confirmed  that  charter  of  liberties,  which  had 
been  granted  by  his  grandfather,  Henry  P. 

Tranquillity  was  no  sooner  restored  to  England,  than 
Henry  had  occasion  to  visit  his  foreign  dominions;  where 
all  things  being  likewise  settled,    he  returned 
to  repress  the  incursions  of  the  Welsh,    who 
at  first  gave  him  much  trouble,  but  at  length  submitted. 
In  the  mean  time  a  quarrel  broke  out  betv/een  . .    „ 

T         .  ,     TT  1      •  1  ,.A.  D.  1157. 

jLewis   and  Henry,   relative  to  the  county  oi 

Thoulouse,   and  war  was  openly  carried  on  between  the 

two  monarchs.   But  these  hostilities  produced  ,    ^^ 

,,  ,         ^  .       A.  D.  1161. 

no  memorable  event,  were  stopt  by  a  cessation 

of  arms,  and  soon  terminated  in  a  peace,  through  the 
mediation  of  the  pope. 

This  war,  so  insignificant  in  itself,  is  remarkable  for 
the  manner  in  which  it  was  conducted.  An  army  formed 
of  feudal  vassals,  as  I  have  had  occasion  frequently  to  ob- 
serve, was  commonly  very  intractable  and  undisciplined; 
both  because  of  the  independent  spirit  of  the  persons  who 
composed  it,  and  because  the  commissions  were  not  be- 
stowed by  the  choice  of  the  sovereign,    in  reward  of  the 

1.  Gervas.  Chron,  Gul.  Neubrig,  lib.  U. 
m.  Vide  Blackstone'i /.WW  TracU,  vol    ii. 

mililarv: 


288  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

militarv  talents  and  services  of  the  officers.  Each  baron 
conducted  his  own  vassals,  and  his  rank  in  the  army  was 
greater  or  less,  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  his  property. 
Even  the  chief  command,  under  that  of  the  prince  was 
often  attached  to  birth;  and  as  the  military  vassals  v/ere 
obliged  to  serve  only  forty  days,  at  their  own  charge,  the 
state  reaped  very  little  benefit  from  their  attendance. 
Henry,  sensible  of  these  inconveniences,  levied  upon  his 
vassals  in  Normandy,  and  other  provinces  remote  from 
Thoulouse,  the  seat  of  war,  a  sum  of  money  in  place  of 
their  service  :  and  this  commutation,  by  reason  of  the 
greater  distance,  was  still  more  advantageous  to  his  Eng- 
lish vassals.  He  therefore  imposed  a  scutnge  of  three 
pounds  upon  each  knight's  fee;  a  condition,  though 
unusual,  and  the  first  perhaps  to  be  met  with  in  history,  to 
which  the  military  tenants  readily  submitted.  With  this 
money  he  levied  an  army,  which  was  more  at  his  disposal, 
and  whose  service  was  more  durable  and  constant:  and,  in 
order  to  facilitate  those  levies,  he  enlarged  the  privileges 
of  the  people,  and  rendered  them  less  dependent  on  the 
barons,  by  whom  they  had  long  been  held  in  servitude, 
or  in  a  state  of  the  most  grievous  oppression. 

Having  thus  regulated  his  civil  and  military  affairs 
and  accommodated  his  differences  with  Lewis, 
"'Henry  soon  after  his  return  to  England,  be- 
gan to  cast  his  eye  upon  the  church,  where  abuses  of 
every  kind  prevailed.  The  clergy,  among  their  other 
inventions  to  obtain  money,  had  inculcated  the  necessi- 
ty of  penance  as  an  atonement  for  sin.  They  had  also 
introduced  the  practice  of  paying  large  sums  of  money,  as 
a  composition  for  such  penances.  By  these  means  the 
sins  of  the  people  were  become  a  revenue  to  the  priests; 
and  the  king  computed,  that,  by  this  invention  alone, 
they  levied  more  money  from  his  subjects  than  flowed 
into  the  royal  treasury  by  all  the  methods  of  public  supply^. 
Feeling  for  his   oppressed  people,  he  therefore  required 

3.  Fitz-Stepli.  Vit.  St.  Thorn. 

that 


tKT.  XXVIII.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  fi89 

that  a  civil  officer,  appointed  by  the  crown,  should  for 
the  future  be  present  in  all  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  whose 
consent  should  be  necessary  to  every  composition  made 
b)  sinners  for  their  spiritual  offences. 

But  the  grand  difficulty  was,  how  to  carry  this  or- 
der into  execution  ;  as  the  ecclesiastics,  in  that  age,  had 
renounced  all  immediate  subordination  to  the  civil  power. 
They  openly  claimed  exemption,  in  cases  of  criminal  accu- 
sation, from  a  trial  before  courts  of  justice.  Spiritual 
penalties  alone  could  be  inflicted  on  their  offences  ;  and 
as  the  clerical  habit  was  thus  become  a  protection  for 
all  enormities,  they  could  not  fail  to  increase.  Accordingly 
crimes  of  the  deepest  dye  were  daily  committed  with  im- 
punity by  ecclesiastics  :  and  it  was  found  upon  inquiry, 
that  no  less  than  an  hundred  murders  had  been  perpetrated 
since  the  king's  accession,  by  men  in  holy  orders,  who 
had  never  been  called  to  account  for  these  offences  against 
the  laws  of  nature  and  society'^. 

In  order  to  bring  such  criminals  to  justice,  as  the  first 
step  towards  his  projected  reformation  of  the  church,  and 
by  that  means  to  restore  union  between  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  power,  so  necessary  in  every  government  for 
the  maintenance  of  peace  and  harmony  !  Henry  exalted 
Thomas  a  Becket,  his  chancellor,  and  the  first  man  of 
English  descent  who  had  occupied  an  eminent  station 
«ince  the  Norman  conquest,  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  on 
the  death  of  archbishop  Theobald  ;  rightly  judging,  that 
if  the  present  opportunity  should  be  neglected,  and  the 
usurpations  of  the  clergy  allowed  to  proceed,  the  crown 
must  be  in  danger,  from  the  predominating  superstition  of 
the  people,  of  falling  under  subjection  to  the  mitre. 

Becket,  while  chancellor,  was  pompous  in  his  retinue, 
sumptuous  in  his  furniture,  and  luxurious  in  his  table,, 
beyond  what  England  had  seen  in  a  subject.  His  house 
was  a  place  of  education  for  the  sons  of  the  chief  no- 
bility,  and  the  king  himself  frequently  condescended  to 

4.  Gul.  Neubr.  lib.  ii. 

VOL.  I.  T  t  partake 


SCO    "  ■  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

partake  of  his  chancellor's  entertainments.  His  amuse- 
rnents  were  as  gay  as  his  manner  of  life  was  splendid  and 
elegant.  He  employed  himself  at  leisure  hours  in  hunting, 
hawking, gaming, andhorsemanship.  His  complaisance  and 
good  humour  had  rendered  him  agreeable,  and  his  indus- 
try and  abilities  useful  to  his  master.  Pie  was  well  acquaint- 
ed with  the  king's  intention  of  retrenching,  or  rather  con- 
finingwithin  ancient  bounds  all  ecclesiastical  privileges, and 
having  always  shewed  a  ready  disposition  to  comply  with 
every  advance  to  that  purpose,  Henry  considered  him  as 
the  fittest  person  he  could  place  at  the  head  of  the  English 
church.  But  no  prince  of  so  much  penetration,  as 
appeared  in  the  issue,  ever  so  little  understood  the  charac- 
ter of  his  minister. 

Becket  was  no  sooner  installed  in  the  see  of  Canter- 
bur}',  which  rendered  him  the  second  person  in  the 
kingdom,  than  he  secretly  aspired  at  being  the  first,  in 
consequence  at  least,  and  totally  altered  his  manner  of 
life.  He  affected  the  greatest  austerity,  and  the  most  rigid 
mortification  :  he  wore  sackcloth  next  his  skin,  which  he 
changed  so  seldom,  that  it  was  filled  with  dirt  and  vermin. 
His  usual  diet  was  bread,  his  drink  water  :  he  tore  his 
back  with  the  frequent  discipline  which  he  inflicted  upon 
it;  and  he  daily  washed  on  his  knees,  in  imitation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  feet  of  thirteen  beggars,  whom  he  afterwards 
dismissed  with  presents-''.  Every  one  who  made  profes- 
sions of  sanctity  was  admitted  to  his  conversation,  and 
returned  full  of  panegyrics  on  the  humility,  as  well  as 
piety  and  mortification  of  the  holy  primate  ;  whose  aspect 
now  wore  the  appearance  of  intense  seriousness,  mental 
reflection,  and  sacred  devotion.  And  all  men  of  penetra- 
tion saw,  that  he  was  meditating  some  great  design,  and 
that  the  ambition  and  ostentation  of  his  character  had 
taken  a  new  and  more  dangerous  direction. 

This  championof  the  church  (for  such  he  now  declared 
himself)  did  not  even  wait  till  the  king  had  matured  those 

5.  Fitz-Steph.  ubi  sub. 

projects 


I.ET.  xxi'iii.]     MODERN   EUROPE.  £9i 

projects,  which  he  knew  had  been  formed  against  eccle- 
siastical power :  he  himself  began  hostilities,  and  en- 
deavoured to  over-awe  the  king  by  the  intrepidity  and 
boldness  of  his  measures.  But  although  Kcnry  found 
himself  thus  grievously  mistaken  in  the  character  of  the 
person  whom  he  had  promoted  to  the  primacy,  he  deter^ 
mined  not  to  desist  from  his  fornier  intention  of  retrench- 
ing clerical  usurpations  : — and  an  event  soon  occurred 
which  gave  him  a  plausible  pretence  for  putting  his 
design  in  execution,  and  brought  matters  to  a  crisis  with 
the  archbishop. 

A  parish  clerk  in  Worcestershire  having  debauched 
a  gentleman's  daughter,    had  about  this  time 
proceeded  to  murder  the  father.   The  general 
indignation  against  so  enormous  a  crime  made  the  king 
insist,    that  the  clerk  should  be  delivered  up  to  the  civil 
magistrate,  and  receive  condign  punishment;  but  Becket 
insisted  on  the  privileges  of  the  church,   and  maintained 
that  no  greater  punishment  could  be  inflicted   upon  him 
than  degradation''.       Henry  laid  hold  of  so  favourable  a 
cause  to  push  the  clergy  with  respect  to  all  their  usurpa- 
tions,   and    to    determine    at    once    those    controversies 
which  daily  multiplied  betvveen  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction.    He  summoned  an  assembly  of  all  the  prelates 
of  England,  and  put  them  to  this  concise  and  decisive 
question  :    Whether  or  not  they  were  willing  to  submit  to 
the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  the  kingdom  ?  The  bishops 
answered  equivocally,  and  the  king  left  the  assembly  with 
marks  of  the  highest  indignation.    They  were  struck  with 
terror,    and  gave  a  general  promise  of  observing  the  an- 
cient customs'. 

But  a  declaration  in  general  terms  was  not  sufficient 
for  Henry:  he  wanted  to  define  exactly  the  limits  between 
the  rival  powers.  For  this  purpose  he  summon- 
ed at  Clarendon  a  general  council  of  the  bishops 
and  nobles,  to  whom  he  submitted  that  great  and  important 

«.  Ibid,  7.  R.  Hoveden,  £ist.  ^ad. 

question. 


292  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

question.  The  barons  were  all  gained  to  the  king's  party, 
cither  by  the  reasons  he  urged  or  b)-  his  superior  authority, 
while  the  bishops  were  over-awed  by  the  general  combina- 
tion against  them.  And  the  following  laws,  among  others, 
commonly  called  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  were 
voted  without  opposition  :  "  That  no  chief  tenant  of  the 
*'  crown  shall  be  excommunicated,  or  have  his  lands  put 
"  under  an  interdict,  without  the  king's  consent;  that  n» 
"  appeals  in  spiritual  causes  shall  be  carried  before  the 
"  holy  see,  nor  any  clergyman  be  suffered  to  depart  the 
*'  kingdom,  unless  with  the  king's  permission ;  that  lay- 
"  men  shall  not  be  accused  in  spiritual  courts,  except  by 
"  legal  and  reputable  promoters  and  witnesses  ;  and 
*'  lastly,"  which  was  the  great  object  aimed  at,  "  that 
"  churchmen,  accused  of  any  crime,  shall  be  tried  in  the 
*'  civil  courts^." 

These  articles  were  well  calculated  to  prevent  the 
principal  abuses  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  put  a  final 
stop  to  the  usurpations  of  the  church  :  and  having  been 
passed  in  a  national  and  civil  assembly,  they  fully  estab- 
lished the  superiority  of  the  legislature  over  all  j)apal 
decrees  and  spiritual  canons.  But  as  Henry  knew  the 
bishops  would  take  the  first  opportunity  to  deny  the  au- 
thority which  had  enacted  these  constitutions,  he  resolv- 
ed they  should  set  their  seal  to  them,  and  give  a  promise 
to  observe  them.  With  this  view  they  were  reduced  to 
writing  ;  and  none  of  the  prelates  dared  to  oppose  the 
king's  will  except  Becket,  who  at  length  consented.  He 
set  his  seal  to  the  constitutions  ;  promised  legally,  with 
good-faith,  and  w'xthowt  fraud  or  reserve  to  observe  them, 
and  even  took  an  oath  to  that  purposed 

Henry,  thinking  he  had  now  finally  prevailed  in  this 
great  contest,  sent  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  to 
Alexander  III.  to  be  ratified.  But  the  pope,  who  plainly 
saw  they  were  calculated  to  establish  the  independency  of 
England  from  the  holy  see,  abrogated,  annulled,  and  re« 

fl.  M.  Paris.  Hht.  Shiad.  9.  Fitz-Steph.  Gcrvas. 

jected 


iET.  XXVIII.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  29^ 

jected  them  ;  and  when  Becket  found  he  might  hope  for 
the  papal  support  in  an  opposition  to  regal  authority,  he 
expressed  the  deepest  sorrow  for  his  concessions.  He 
redoubled  his  austerities,  as  a  punishment  for  his  crimi- 
nal compliance  ;  and  he  refused  to  exercise  any  part  of 
his  ecclesiastical  function,  until  he  should  receive  abso- 
lution from  the  pope.  Absolution  was  readily  granted 
him  ;  after  receiving  which  he  set  no  bounds  to  his  ob- 
stinacy and  ambition. 

Henry,  however,  who  was  entirely  master  of  his  ex- 
tensive dominions,  and  sure  every  one  would  obey  his  will 
except  the  man  whom  he  had  lifted  into  power,  and  to 
whose  assistance  he  had  trusted  in  forwarding  his  favour- 
ite project  against  the  clergy,  was  now  incensed  beyond 
all  measure,  and  resolved  both  to  humble  the  church  and 
make  the  prelate  feel  the  weight  of  his  indignation.  He 
accordingly  summoned  Becket  to  give  an  account  of  his 
administration  while  chancellor,  and  to  pay  the  balance 
due  from  the  revenues  of  all  the  prelacies,  abbies,  and 
baronies  which  had  been  subject  to  his  management,  du- 
ring that  time. 

This  prosecution,  which  seems  to  have  been  tnore 
dictated  by  passion  than  by  justice,  or  even  by  sound  poli- 
cy, threw  Becket  and  all  the  clergy  of  England,  into 
the  utmost  confusion.  Some  bishops  advised  him  to 
resign  his  see,  on  receiving  an  acquittal;  others  were  of 
opinion,  that  he  ought  to  submit  himself  entirely  to 
the  king's  mercy:  for  they  were  fully  sensible,  that  ac- 
counts of  so  much  intricacy  could  not  be  produced  of  a 
sudden,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  satisfy  a  tribunal  resolved 
to  ruin  and  oppress  him.  But  the  primate,  thus  pushed 
to  extremity,  had  too  much  courage  to  yield:  he  deter- 
mined to  brave  all  his  enemies;  to  trust  to  the  sacredness 
of  his  character  for  protection;  and  to  defy  the  utmost 
efforts  of  royal  indignation,  by  involving  his  cause  with 
that  of  God  and  the  church.  He  therefore  strictly  pro- 
hibited his  suffragans  to  assist  at  any  such  trial,  or  give 
their  sanction  to  any  sentence  against  him  :  he  put  him- 
self and  hi»  see  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the 

vicegerent 


294  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

vicegerent  of  Christ,  and  appealed  to  his  holiness  against 
any  penalty  which  his  iniquitous  judges  might  think  pro- 
per to  inflict  upon  him.  "  The  indignation  of  a  great 
"  monarch,"  added  he,  "  such  as  Henry,  with  his  sword, 
*'  can  only  kill  the  body;  while  that  of  the  church,  intrust- 
*'  ed  to  the  primate,  can  kill  the  soul,  and  throw  the  diso- 
*'  bedient  into  infmite  and  eternal  perdition  "." 

Appeals  to  Rome,  even  in  spiritual  causes,  had  been 
prohibited  by  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  and  conse- 
quently were  become  criminal  by  law  ;  but  an  appeal  in 
a  civil  cause,  such  as  the  king's  demand  upon  Becket,  was 
altogether  new  and  unprecedented,  and  tended  directly  to 
the  subversion  of  the  English  government.  Henry,  there- 
fore, being  now  furnished  with  so  much  better  a  pretence 
for  his  violence,  would  probably  have  pushed  this  affair 
to  the  utmost  against  the  primate,  had  he  not  retired  be- 
yond sea  and  found  patrons  and  protectors  in  the  pope 
and  the  king  of  France. 

The  violent  prosecution  carried  on  against  Becket 
at  home,  had  a  natural  tendency  to  turn  the  public 
favour  on  his  side,  and  to  make  men  forget  his  former 
ingratitude  towards  the  king,  and  his  departure  from  all 
oaths  and  engagements,  as  well  as  the  enormity  of  those 
ecclesiastical  privileges,  of  which  he  affected  to  be  the 
champion:  and  political  considerations  conspired  with 
sympathy,  to  procure  him  countenance  and  support 
abroad.  Philip,  earl  of  Flanders,  and  Lewis,  king  of 
France,  jealous  of  the  rising  greatness  of  Henry,  were 
glad  of  an  opportunity  to  give  him  disturbance  in  his 
government.  They  pretended  to  pity  extremely  the  con- 
dition of  the  persecuted  archbishop;  and  the  pope,  whose 
interests  were  more  immediately  concerned  in  abetting 
his  cause,  honoured  Becket  with  the  highest  marks  of 
distinction.  A  residence  was  assigned  him  in  the  abbey 
of  Pontigny,  where  he  lived,  for  some  years,  in  great 
magnificence,  partly  by    a  pension  out  of  the  revenues 

10.  M.  Paris.  R.  Hoveden.  Epist.  St.  Thorn.  Vit.  St.  Thorn. 

-      mi 


LET.  xxviii.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  29« 

of  the   abbey,   and  partly  by  the  generosity  of  the  French 
monarch  . 

In  the  mean  time  the  exiled  primate  filled  all  Eu- 
rope with  exclamations  against  the  violence  he  had  suf- 
fered. He  compared  himself  to  Christ,  who  had  been 
condemned  by  a  lay  tribunal,  and  who  was  crucified  aneW 
in  the  present  oppressions  under  which  his  church  labour- 
ed^. But  complaint  was  a  language  little  suited  to  the 
^vehemence  of  Becket's  temper,  and  in  which  he  did  not 
long  acquiesce.  Having  resigned  his  see  into  the  hands 
of  the  pope,  as  a  mark  of  submission,  and  received  it 
again  from  the  head  of  the  church,  with  high  encomiums 
on  his  piety  and  fortitude,  he  issued  out  a  sentence  of 
excommunication  against  the  king's  chief  ministers,  by 
name,  comprehending,  in  general,  all  those  who  had 
favoured  or  obeyed  the  constitutions  of  Clarendon  :  he 
abrogated  and  annulled  those  constitutions,  absolving  all 
persons  from  the  oaths  which  they  had  taken  to  observe 
them:  and  he  suspended  the  spiritual  thunder  over  Henry, 
only  that  he  might  avoid  the  blow  by  a  timely  repentance'^. 

Henry,  on  the  other  hand,  employed  the  temporal 
weapons  still  in  his  power.     He  suspended  ^.^„ 

the  payment  of  St.  Peter's  Pence,  and  made  ^-  "•  ''^'- 
some  advances  towards  an  alliance  with  the  emperor, 
Frederic  Barbarossa,  who  was  then  engaged  in  violent 
wars  with  pope  Alexander  III.  Both  parties  grew  sick 
of  contention,  and  each  was  afraid  of  the  other.  Although 
the  vigour  of  Henry's  governmeat  had  confirmed  his  au- 
thority in  all  his  dominions,  he  was  sensible  that  his 
throne  might  be  shaken  by  a  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion :  but  as  the  trials  hitherto  made  of  the  spiritual 
weapons  by  Becket  had  not  succeeded  to  his  expectation, 
and  every  thing  remained  quiet  both  in  Eng- 
land and  Normandy,  nothing  seemed  impos- 
isible,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  vigilance  and  capacity  of 
so  great  a  prince. 

11.  Epht.  Sf.  Thorn.      12.  Ibid.       13.  M.  Paris.  R.  Hoveden  Fitz- 
Steph.   Vit.  St.  Thorn. 

These 


29S  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

These  considerations  produced  frequent  attennpts  at 
an  accommodation,  which  was  long  obstructed  bv  mu- 
tual jealousy.      After   all  differences   seemed   adjusted, 

the  king  offered  to  sign  the  treaty,   with  a 

,  ,  .  ;     7-      •,  .A.  D.    1168. 

salvo   to    his    roijal   digrutij;   a   reservation 

which  gave  so  much  umbrage  to  the  primate,  that  the 
negociation  became  fruitless.  And  in  a  second  negocia- 
tion,  Becket,  imitating  Henry's  example,  offered  to 
make  his  submissions  with  a  salvo  of  the  honour  of  God^ 
and  the  liberties  of  ihc  church;  a  proposal,  which,  for  a 
like  reason,  was  offensive  to  the  king,  and  rendered  the 
treaty  abortive.  A  third  conference  was  broken  off  by 
the  same  means.  And  even  in  a  fourth,  when  all  things 
were  settled,   and   the  primate  expected  to  ..,^ 

he  introduced  to  the  king,  Henry  retused 
to  grant  him  the  kiss  of  peace,  under  pretence  that  he 
made  a  rash  vow  to  the  contrary.  The  want  of  this  for- 
mality, insignificant  as  it  may  seem,  prevented  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  treaty,  it  being  regarded  in  those  times  as  the 
only  sure  mark  of  forgiveness. 

In  one  of  these  conferences,  at  which  the  French 
king  was  present,  Henry  said  to  that  monarch,  "  There 
*'  have  been  many  kings  of  England,  some  of  greater,  some 
*'  of  less  authority  than  myself:  there  have  also  been 
*'  many  archbishops  of  Canterbury,  holy  and  good  men, 
"  and  entitled  to  every  kind  of  respect:  let  Becket  only 
"  act  towards  me  with  the  same  submission,  which  the 
*'  greatest  of  his  predecessors  has  paid  to  the  least  of 
"  mine,  and  there  shall  be  no  controversy  between  us'*." 

LeAvis  was  so  much  struck  with  this  state  of  the  case, 
and  with  an  offer  which  Henry  made  to  submit  his  cause 
to  the  French  clergy,  that  he  could  not  forbear  condemn- 
ing Becket,  and  withdrawing  his  friendship  for  a  time. 
But  their  common  animosity  against  Henry  soon  produ- 
ced a  renewal  of  their  former  intimacy,  and  the  primate 
revived  his  threats  and  excommunication.    All  difficulties 

14.  Vit.  St    Thorn,  lib.  ii. 

between 


LET.  XXVIII.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  397 

between  the  parties,  however,  were  at  last  got  over,  and 
Becket  was  permitted  to  return  on  conditions  both  hon- 
ourable and  advantageous:  a  certain  pi-oof  how  .  .^^ 
,  .  ,-1  A.  D.  11/0. 
much  Henry  dreaded  the   interdict  that  was 

ready  to  be  laid  upon  his  dominions,  if  he  had  continued 
in  disobedience  to  the  church,  and  how  terrible  the  thun- 
der of  the  church  must  then  have  been,  since  it  could 
humble  a  prince  of  so  haughty  a  spirit  I 

This  accommodation  with  Becket,  though  settled  on 
terms  b)-  no  means  favourable  to  the  crown,  did  not  even 
procure  Henry  that  temporary  tranquillity  which  he  had 
hoped  to  reap  from  it.  Instead  of  being  taught  modera- 
tion bv  a  six  years  exile,  the  primate  was  only  animated 
with  a  spirit  of  revenge.  Elated  by  the  victory  which  he 
had  obtained  over  his  sovereign,  he  set  no  bounds  to  his 
arrogance.  On  his  arrival  in  England,  where  he  v/ent 
from  town  to  town  in  a  sort  of  triumphal  cavalcade,  he  no- 
tified to  the  archbishop  of  York  the  sentence  of  suspen- 
sion; and  to  the  bishops  of  London  and  Salisbury  that  of 
excommunication,  which  at  his  solicitations,  the  pope  had 
pronounced  against  them,  because  they  had  assisted  at 
the  coronation  of  prince  Henry,  whom  the  king  had  asso- 
ciated in  the  royalty,  during  the  absence  of  the  primate, 
and  when  an  interdict  was  ready  to  be  laid  upon  his  do- 
minions; a  precaution  thought  necessary  to  insure  the 
succession  of  that  prince.  By  this  violent  measure,  there- 
fore, Becket  in  effect  declared  war  against  the  king  him- 
self; yet,  in  so  doing,  he  appears  to  have  been  guided 
by  policy  as  well  as  passion.  Apprehensive  lest  a  prince 
of  such  profound  sagacity  should  in  the  end  prevail,  he 
resolved  to  take  all  the  advantage  which  his  present  vic- 
tory gave  him,  and  to  disconcert  the  cautious  measures 
of  the  king,  by  the  vehemence  and  vigour  of  his  own  con- 
duct. Assured  of  support  from  Rome,  he  was  little  ap- 
prehensive of  dangers,  which  his  courage  taught  him 
to  despise  and  which,  though  followed  by  the  most  fatal 
consequences,  would  still  gratify  his  thirst  of  glory,  and 
reward  his  ambition  with  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 

VOL.  I.  u  u  The 


298  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The  suspended  and  excommunicated  prelates  waited 
upon  the  king  at  Baleux  in  Normandy,  where  he  then  re- 
sided, and  complained  to  him  of  the  violent  proceedings  of 
Becket:  and  Henry,  sensible  that  his  whole  plan  of  ope- 
rations was  overturned,  and  the  contest  revived,  which 
he  had  endeavoured  by  so  manv  negociations  to  appease, 
was  thrown  into  the  most  violent  agitation.  "  Will  my 
*'  servants,"  exclaimed  he,  "  still  leave  me  exposed  to 
*'  the  insolence  of  this  ungrateful  and  imperious  priest?" 
These  words  seem.ed  to  call  for  vengeance;  and  four  gen- 
tlemen of  the  king's  houshold,  Reginald  P'itz-Urse,  Wil- 
liam de  Tracy,  Hugh  de  Moreville,  and  Richard  Brito, 
communicating  their  thoughts  to  each  other,  and  swear- 
ing to  revenge  their  sovereign's  quarrel,  secretly  with- 
drew from  court,  and  made  the  best  of  their  way  to 
England. 

In  the  mean  time  Henry,  informed  of  some  menac- 
ing expressions  which  they  had  dropt,  dispatched  a 
messenger  after  them,  charging  them  to  attempt  nothing 
against  the  person  of  the  primate.  But  these  orders 
came  too  late  to  prevent  their  fatal  purpose.  Though 
they  took  different  roads,  to  avoid  suspicion,  they  arriv- 
ed nearly  about  the  same  time  at  Canterbury,  where 
they  found  the  primate  in  perfect  security:  and  on  his 
refusing,  with  his  usual  insolence  and  obstinacy,  to 
take  of}'  the  excommunication  and  suspension  of  the 
bishops,  they  murdered  him  in  the  church  of  St.  Bene- 
dict,  during  the  evening  servicers. 

Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was  the  tragical  death  of 
Thomas  a  Becket;  a  prelate  of  the  most  lofty,  intrepid, 
and  inflexible  spirit,  who  was  able  to  cover  from  the 
world,  and  probably  from  himself,  the  efforts  of  pride 
and  ambition,  under  the  disguise  of  sanctity,  and  of  zeal 
for  the  interests  of  Christ  and  his  church.  His  death 
confirmed  to  the  clergy  those  privileges  which  his  oppo- 
sition could  not  obtain.  Though  Henry  had  proposed 
to  have  him  arrested,  when  informed  of  his  renewed 

15.  Vit.  St.  Thorn,     lib.  iii.     M.  Paris.     Benedict.     Abbas. 

insolence, 


LET.  XXVIII.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  399 

insolence,  he  was  no  sooner  told  of  the  primate's  murder 
than  he  was  filled  with  the  utmost  consternation.  In- 
terdicts and  excommunications,  weapons  in  themselves 
so  terrible,  would  now,  he  foresaw,  be  armed  with 
double  force:  in  vain  should  he  plead  his  innocence,  and 
even  his  total  ignorance  of  the  fact;  he  was  sufficiently 
guilty,  if  the  church  thought  fit  to  esteem  him  so. 
These  considerations  gave  him  the  deepest  and  most 
unaffected  concern,  which  he  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal. 
He  shut  himself  up  from  the  light  of  the  sun  for  three 
days,  denying  himself  all  manner  of  sustenance  ;  and  as 
soon  as  he  recovered,  in  any  degree,  his  tone  of  mind, 

he  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  Rome,  main- 

.    .       ,.     .  'i     n-    •       1         u     -^-  D.   1171. 

taming  his  innocence,  and  offering  to  sub- 
mit the  v/hole  affair  to  the  decision  of  the  holy  see'^. 

The  pope,  flattered  by  this  unexpected  condescen- 
sion, forbore  to  proceed  to  extremities  against  Henry; 
more  especially  as  he  was  sensible,  that  he  could  reap 
greater  advantages  from  moderation  than  from  violence. 
JMeantime  the  clergy  were  not  idle  in  magnifying  the 
sanctity  of  the  murdered  primate.  Other  saints  had 
borne  testimony,  by  their  sufferings,  to  the  general 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  but  Becket  had  sacrificed  his 
life  for  the  power  and  privileges  of  the  church.  This 
peculiar  merit  challenged  (nor  without  a  ready  concur- 
rence) a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  his  memory  from  the 
whole  body  of  the  priesthood.  Endless  were  the  pane- 
gyrics on  his  virtues;  and  the  miracles  wrought  by  his 
relics  were  more  numerous,  more  nonsensical,  and 
more  impudently  attested,  than  those  which  ever  filled 
the  legend  of  any  saint  or  martyr.  His  shrine  not  only 
restored  dead  men  to  life;  it  also  restored  cows,  dogs, 
and  horses.  Presents  v/ere  sent,  and  pilgrimages  per- 
formed, from  all  parts  of  Christendom,  in  order  to 
obtain  his  intercession  with  Heaven:  and  it  was  com- 
puted that  in  one  year,  above  an  hundred  thousand  pil- 

16.  M.  Paris.    R.  HoveJen. 

grims 


300  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

grims  arrived  at  Canterbury,  and  paid  their  devotion* 
at  his  tomb'''. 

As  Henry  found,  however,  that  he  was  in  no  imme- 
diate danger  from  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican,  he  under- 
took the  conquest  of  Ireland;  an  enterprize  which  he 
had  long  meditated,  and  for  which  he  had  obtained  a_ 
bull  from  pope  Adrian  IV.  but  which  had  been  defer- 
red by  reason  of  his  quarrels  with  the  primate.  Of 
that  island  something  must  here  be  said. 

Ireland  was  probably  first  peopled  from  Britain,  as 
Britain  was  from  Gaul;  and  the  inhabitants  of  all  those 
countries  seem  to  have  proceeded  from  the  same  Celtic 
origin,  which  is  lost  in  the  most  distant  antiquity.  The 
Irish,  from  the  earliest  accounts  of  history  or  tradition, 
had  been  buried  in  ignorance  and  barbarism;  and  as 
their  country  was  never  conquered,  or  even  invaded  by 
the  Romans,  who  communicated  to  the  western  world 
civility  and  slavery,  they  had  remained  almost  in  their 
primitive  ccaidition.  'I'he  small  principalities  into  which 
the  island  was  divided,  exercised  perpetual  hostilities 
against  each  other;  and  the  uncertain  succession  of  the 
Irish  princes  was  a  continual  source  of  domestic  convul- 
sion, the  usual  title  of  each  petty  sovereign  to  his  prin- 
cipality being  the  murder  of  his  predecessor.  Courage 
and  force,  though  exercised  in  the  commission  of  vio- 
lence, were  more  honoured  than  pacific  virtues;  and  the 
most  simple  arts  of  life,  even  tillage  and  agriculture; 
were  almost  wholly  unknown  among  the  rude  natives  of 
Ireland. 

From  this  short  account  of  the  state  of  the  country, 
you  will  be  less  surprised,  my  dear  Philip,  when  you 
are  told,  that  Henry,  who  landed  at  the  head  of  no  more 
than  five  hundred  knights  and  their  attendants,  in  a  pro- 
cress  which  he  made  through  that  island,  had 
A.  D. 1172  •  • 

little    other  occupation   than   to   receive   the 

homage  of  his  new  subjects.      He  left  most  of  the  Irish 


17.  Gul.  Neubrig.    J.  Brompton.    R.  Hoveden. 

chieftains 


LET.  xxviii.]     MODERN   EUROPE.  201 

chieftains  or  princes  in  possession  of  their  ancient  terri- 
tories: he  bestowed  lands  on  some  of  his  EngUsh  adven- 
turers; and,  after  a  stay  of  a  few  months,  returned  to 
Britain,  where  his  presence  was  much  wanted,  having 
annexed  Ireland  to  the  English  crown^. 

The  pope's  two  legates,  Albert  and  Theodin,  to 
whom  was  committed  the  trial  of  Henry's  conduct  in 
regard  to  the  death  of  Becket,  were  arrived  in  Norman- 
dy, before  his  return,  and  had  sent  frequent  letters  to 
England  full  of  menacing  expressions.  The  king  hasten- 
ed over  to  meet  them;  and  was  so  fortunate  as  to  con- 
clude an  accommodation  with  them,  on  terms  more  easy 
than  could  have  been  expected.  He  cleared  himself  by 
oath  of  all  concern  in  the  murder  of  Becket.  But  as  the 
passion  which  he  had  expressed  on  account  of  that  prelate's 
conduct,  had  probably  been  the  cause  of  his  violent  death, 
he  promised  to  serve  three  years  against  the  infidels  either 
in  Spain  or  Palestine,  if  the  pope  should  require  him; 
and  he  agreed  to  permit  appeals  to  the  holy  see,  in 
ecclesiastical  causes,  on  surety  being  given  that  nothing 
should  be  attempted  against  the  rights  of  his  crown  ^. 

Henry  seemed  now  to  have  reached  the  pinnacle  of 
human  grandeur  and  felicity.  His  dangerous  contro- 
versy with  the  church  was  at  an  end,  and  he  appeared  to 
be  equally  happy  in  his  domestic  situation  and  his  political 
government.  But  this  tranquillity  was  of  short  duration. 
Prince  Henry,  at  the  instigation  of  Lewis 
VII.  his  father-in-law,  insisted  that  his  father 
should  resign  to  him  either  the  kingdom  of  England,  or 
the  duchy  of  Normandy :  and  the  king's  two  vounger 
sons,  Geoffrey  and  Richard,  also  leagued  with  the  court 
of  France,  by  the  persuasions  of  their  mother,  queen 
Eleanor;  whose  jealousy,  when  in  years,  was  as  violent 
as  her  amorous  passions,   in  youth. 

Thus  Europe  saw,  with  astonishment,  the  best  and 
most  indulgent  of  parents  obliged  to  maintain  war  against 

18.  Benedict.  Abbas.     M.  Paris.     Expu^iat.  Hibern.  lib.  i. 

19.  M.  i'aris.  R.  Hovedcn. 

his 


302  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

his  whole  family;  and,  what  was  still  more  extraordinary, 
several  princes  were  not  ashamed  to  support  this  ab- 
surd and  unnatural  rebellion! — Not  only  Lewis,  king  of 
France,  but  William,  king  of  Scotland,  Philip,  earl  of 
Flanders,  and  several  other  princes  on  the  continent, 
besides  many  barons,  both  English  and  Norman,  espous- 
ed the  quarrel  of  young  Henry  and  his  brothers^". 

In  order  to  break  that  alarming  confederacy,  the  king 
of  England  humbled  himself  so  far  as  to  supplicate  the 
court  of  Rome.  Though  sensible  of  the  danger  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  in  temporal  disputes,  he  applied 
to  the  pope  to  excommunicate  his  enemies,  and  by  that 
means  reduce  to  obedience  his  undutiful  children,  whom 
he  found  such  reluctance  to  punish  by  the  sv/ord.  The 
bulls  required  were  issued  by  Alexander  III.  but  they 
not  having  the  desired  effect,  Henry  v/as  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  arms  :  and  he  carried  on  war  successfully, 
and  at  the  same  time,  against  France,  Scotland,  and  his 
rebellious  barons  in  England  and  Normandy. 

Meanwhile,  the  English  monarch,  sensible  of  his 
danger,  and  of  the  effects  of  superstition  on 
the  minds  of  the  people,  went  barefooted  to 
Becket's  tomb  ;  prostrated  himself  before  the  shrine  of 
the  saint ;  remained  in  fasting  and  prayer  during  a  whole 
day;  watched  all  night  the  holy  reliques;  and  assembling  a 
chapter  of  the  monks,  put  a  scourge  of  discipline  into  each 
of  their  hands,  and  presented  his  bare  shoulders  to  the 
lashes  which  these  incensed  ecclesiastics  not  sparingly 
inflicted  upon  him  ! — Next  morning  he  received  absolu- 
tion ;  and  his  generals  obtained,  on  the  same  da)',  a  great 
victory  over  the  Scots,  which  was  regarded  as  a  proof  of 
his  final  reconciliation  with  Heaven,  and  with  Thomas 
i  Becket^'. 

The  victory  over  the  Scots  was  gained  near  Alnwick, 
where  their  king  was  taken  prisoner  ;  and  the  spirit  of 
the  English  rebels  being  broken  by  this  blow,  the  whole 

20.  Benedict.  Abbas.     R.  Hovcden.     W.  Neubrig.        21.  Ibid. 

kingdom 


LET.  XXVIII.]     MODERN   EUROPE.  303 

kingdom  was  restored  to  tranquillity.  It  was  deemed 
impious  any  longer  to  resist  a  prince,  who  seemed  to  lie 
under  the  immediate  protection  of  Heaven.  The  clergy 
exalted  anew  the  merits  and  the  powerful  intercession  of 
Becket  ;  and  Henry,  instead  of  opposing  their  supersti- 
tion, politically  propagated  an  opinion  so  favourable  to 
his  interests*^  Victorious  in  all  quarters, 
crowned  with  glory,  and  absolute  master  of  '  * 
his  English  dominions,  he  hastened  over  to  Normandy; 
where  a  peace  was  concluded  With  Lewis,  and  an  accom- 
modation brought  about  with  his  sons. 

Having  thus,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  extricated 
himself  from  a  situation  in  which  his  throne  was  exposed 
to  the  utmost  danger,  Henry  occupied  himself  for  several 
years  in  the  administration  of  justice,  enacting  of  laws,  and 
in  guarding  against  those  inconveniencies,  which  either 
the  past  convulsions  of  the  state,  or  the  political  institu- 
tions of  that  age,  rendered  unavoidable.  The  success 
which  had  attended  him  in  all  his  wars,  discouraged  his 
neighbours  from  attempting  any  thing  against  him  ;  so 
that  he  was  enabled  to  complete  his  internal  regulations 
without  disturbance  from  any  quarter.  Some  of  these 
regulations  deserve  particular  notice. 

As  the  clergy,  by  the  constitutions  of  Clarendon, 
which  Henry  endeavoured  still  to  maintain,  were  subject- 
ed to  atrial  by  the  civil  magistrate,  it  seemed  but  just  to 
afford  them  the  protection  of  that  power  to  which  they 
owed  obedience  :  he  therefore  enacted  a  law.  That  the 
murderers  of  a  clergyman  should  be  tried  before  the 
justiciary,  in  the  presence  of  the  bishop  or  his  official  ; 
and  besides  the  usual  punishment  for  murder,  should  be 
subjected  to  a  forfeiture  of  their  estates,  and  a  confisca- 
tion of  their  goods  and  chattels^^.  He  also  passed  an 
equitable  law.  That  the  goods  of  a  vassal  should  not  be 
seized  for  the  debt  of  his  lord,  unless  the  vassal  was 
surety  for  the  debt;  and  that,  in  cases  of  insolvency,  the 

23.  R.Hovedcn.  23.  Gci-vase.  Diceto. 

rents 


304  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

rents  of  vassals  should   be   paid  to  the    creditors  of  the 
lord,  not  to  the  lord  himsell ,  . 

The  partition  of  England  into  four  divisions,  and  the 
appointment  of  itinerant  judges,  learned  in  the  law,  to  go 
the  circuit  in  each  division,  and  to  decide  the  causes  in 
the  counties,  after  the  example  of  the  commissaries  of 
Lewis  VI.  and  the  missi  of  Charlemagne,  was  another 
important  ordinance  of  the  English  monarch;  a  measure 
which  had  a  direct  tendency  to  curb  the  oppressions  of 
the  barons,  andto  protect  t'heinferior  gentry  or  small  land- 
holders, and  the  common  people  in  their  property'^.  And 
that  there  might  be  fewer  obstacles  to  the  execution  of 
justice,  he  was  vigilant  in  demolishing  all  the  new  erected 
castles  of  the  nobility,  in  England  as  well  as  in  his  foreign 
dominions.  Nor  did  he  permit  any  fortress  to  rem.ain  in 
the  custody  of  those  he  found  reason  to  suspect^''. 

But   lest   the  kingdom    should  be  weakened  by  this 
peaceful  policy,  Henry  published  a  famous  decree,  called 
Ian  Assize  of  Arms ;  by  which  all  his  subjects  were  oblig- 
i  ed  to  put  themselves  in  a  situation  to  defend  themselves 
[  and  the  realm.  Every  person  possessed  of  a  single  knight's 
fee,  was  ordered  to  have  a  coat  of  mail,  a  helmet,  a  shield, 
and  a  lance  :  and  the  same  accoutrements  were  required 
to  be  provided  by  every  one,  whether  nobleman  or  gen- 
I  tleman,   for  whatever   number  of  knight's  fees  he  might 
I  hold.      Every   free    layman,    who   had   rents    or    goods 
to   the  value  of  sixteen  marks,    was  to  be  armed  in  like 
manner:  every   one  that  had  ten  marks  was  obliged  to 
have  an  iron  gorget,  a  cap  of  iron,  and  a  lance  ;  and  all  bur- 
gesses  were   to  have  a  cap  of  iron,   a  lance,  and  a  coat 
thicklv  quilted  with  wool,  tow,  or  some  such  materials, 
called  a  Wamhais''^. 

While  the  English  monarch  was  thus  liberally  employ- 
ed in  providing  for  the  happiness  and  security  of  his 
subjects,  the  king  of  France  had  fallen  into  a  most  abject 

24.  Benedict.  Abbass.         25.  R.  Hoveden.         26.  Benedict  Abbas. 
27.  Annal.  JVuz-erl.  Benedict.  Abbas. 

superstition ; 


LET.  xxviii.]    MODERN   EUROPE.  305 

superstition  ;  and  was  induced,  by  a  devotion  more 
sincere  than  Henry's,  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  tomb  of  Beclcet,  in  order  to  obtain  his  in-  *  ' 
tercession  for  the  recovery  of  Philip,  his  son  and  heir. 
Lewis,  as  the  sagacious  Hume  remarks,  with  no  less 
ingenuity  than  pleasantry,  probably  thought  himself  en- 
titled to  the  favour  of  that  saint,  on  account  of  their 
ancient  intimacy:  and  hoped  that  Becket,  whom  he  had 
protected  while  on  earth,  would  not  now,  that,  he  was  so 
highly  advanced  in  heaven,  forget  his  old  friend  and 
benefactor  :  the  young  prince  was  restored  to  health;  and, 
as  was  supposed,  through  the  intercession  of  Becket.  But 
the  king  himself,  soon  after  his  return,  was  struck  with  an 
apoplexy,  which  deprived  him  of  his  judgment;  and  Philip 
II.  afterwards  surnamed  Augustus,  took  upon  him  the  ad- 
ministration, though  only  fifteen  years  of  age.  His  father's 
death,  which  happened  next  year,  opened  his 
way  to  the  throne;  and  he  proved  the  ablest, 
and  the  greatest  monarch,  that  had  governed  France 
since  the  age  of  Charlemagne.  The  superior  age  and  ex- 
perience of  Henry,  hov/ever,  while  they  moderated  his 
ambition,  gave  him  such  an  ascendant  over  this  prince, 
that  no  dangerous  rivalship,  for  some  time,  arose  between 
them.  The  English  monarch,  instead  of  taking  advan- 
tage of  Philip's  youth,  employed  his  good  offices  in 
composing  the  quarrels  which  arose  in  the  royal  family 
of  France  :  and  he  was  successful  in  mediating  an  accom- 
modation between  the  king,  his  mother,  and  uncles. 
But  these  services  were  ill  requited  by  Philip;  who,  when 
he  came  to  man's  estate,  encouraged  Henry's  sons  in  their 
ungrateful  and  undutiiul  behaviour  towards  their  fa- 
ther'^ 

The  quarrels  between  the  king  of  England  and  his 
family,   however,   were  in  some  measure  quieted  by  the 

death  of  his  two  sons,   younc:  Henry  and  his 

.  A.  D.  1187. 

brother  Geoffrey,  who  had  both  been  in  open 

S8.  EeK«dict,  Abbas.     R.  Hoved^g. 

TOL.  I.  X  X  rebellion 


30(5  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  f. 

rebellion  against  their  parental  sovereign :  and  the  rival- 
ship  between  old  Henry  and  Philip  seemed,  for  a  time,  to 
give  place  to  the  general  passion  for  the  relief  of  the  Holy 
Land.  Both  assumed  the  cross,  and  imposed 
*  a  tax  amounting  to  the  tenth  of  all  moveables, 
on  such  of  their  subjects  as  remained  at  home'^. 

But  before  this  great  enterprise  could  be  carried  into 
execution,  many  obstacles  were  to  be  surmounted. 
Philip,  still  jealous  of  Henry's  greatness,  entered  into  a 
private  confederacy  with  prince  Richard,  now  heir  appa» 
rent  to  the  English  crown  ;  and  by  working  on  his  am- 
bitious and  impatient  temper,  persuaded  him  to  seek 
present  power  and  independency  at  the  expense  of  filial 
duty,  and  of  the  grandeur  of  that  monarchy  which  he  was 
one  day  to  inherit.  The  king  of  England  was  therefore 
obliged,  at  an  advanced  age,  to  defend  his  dominions  by 
, ,  „^    arms,    and   to    enter  on  a  war   with  France, 

A     D     1 189 

and  with  his  eldest  surviving  son  ;  a  prince 
of  great  valour  and  popularity,  who  had  seduced  the  chief 
barons  of  Poitou,  Guienne,  Anjou,  and  Normandy. 
Henry,  as  might  be  expected,  was  unsuccessful;  a 
misfortune  which  so  much  subdued  his  spirit,  that  he 
concluded  a  treaty  on  the  most  disadvantageous  terms. 
He  agreed  that  Richard  should  receive  the  homage,  an 
oath  of  fealty  of  all  his  subjects,  and  that  all  his  asso- 
ciates should  be  pardoned  :  and  he  engaged  to  pay  the 
king  of  France  a  compensation  for  the  charges  of  the 
war3°. 

But  the  mortification  which  Henry,  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  give  law  to  his  enemies,  received  from 
these  humiliating  conditions  was  light,  in  comparison  of 
what  he  experienced  from  another  cause  on  that  occasion. 
When  he  demanded  a  list  of  the  persons,  to  whom  he 
was  to  grant  an  indemnity  for  confederating  with  Richard, 
he  was  astonished  to  find  at  the  head  of  them  the  name 
of  his  favourite  son  John,   who  had  always   shared  his 

29.  Benedict.  Abbas,        30.  U.  Paris,    EeneJ.  Abbas.    R.  Hoveden. 

confidence ; 


LET.  xxvaii.]     MODERN    EUROPE.  307 

confidence;  and  who,  on  account  of  his  influence  with 
the  king,  had  often  excited  the  jealousy  of  Richaid. 
Overloaded  with  cares  and  sorrows  and  robbed  of  his  last 
domestic  comfort,  this  unhappy  father  broke  out  into  ex- 
pressions of  the  utmost  despair  :  he  cursed  the  day  of  his 
birth;  and  bestowed  on  his  undutiful  and  ungrateful 
children  a  malediction,  which  he  could  never  be  brought 
to  retract^'.  The  more  his  heart  was  disposed  to  friend- 
ship and  affection,  the  more  he  resented  the  barbarous 
return  which  his  four  sons  had  successively  made  to  his 
parental  care  ;  and  this  fatal  discovery,  by  depriving  him 
of  all  that  made  life  desirable,  quite  broke  his  spirit,  and 
threw  him  into  a  lingering  fever,  of  which  he  soon  after 
expired,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  at  the  castle 
of  Chinon,  near  Saumur,  in  Normandy. 

The  character  of  Henry,  both  in  public  and  private 
life,  is  almost  without  a  blemish  :  and  his  natural  endow- 
ments were  equal  to  his  moral  qualities.  He  possessed 
every  mental  and  personal  accomplishment,  which  can 
make  a  man  either  estimable  or  amiable.  He  was  of  a 
middle  stature,  strong  and  well  proportioned ;  his  counte- 
nance was  lively  and  engaging;  his  conversation  affable 
and  entertaining;  his  elocution  easy,  persuasive,  and 
ever  at  command.  He  loved  peace,  but  possessed  both 
bravery  and  conduct  in  war;  was  provident  without  timi- 
dity, severe  in  the  execution  of  justice  without  rigour, 
and  temperate  without  austerity.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
of  a  very  amorous  complexion,  and  historians  mention 
two  of  his  natural  sons  by  Rosamond,  the  fair  daughter  of 
Lord  Clifford;  namely,  Richard  Longespee  or  Longsword 
(so  called  from  the  sword  which  he  usually  wore),  who 
married  the  heiress  of  Salisbury;  and  Geoffrey,  first 
bishop  of  Lincoln  and  afterward  archbishop  of  York.  The 
other  circumstances  of  the  story  commonly  told  of  that 
lady  seem  to  be  fabulous,  though  adopted  by  many  histo- 
rical writers. 

31.  R.  Hovcden. 

Like 


SOS  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Like  most  of  his  predecessors  of  the  Norman  line, 
Henry  spent  more  of  his  time  on  the  continent  than  in 
England.  He  was  surrounded  by  the  English  nobility  and 
gentry,  when  abroad  ;  and  the  French  nobility  and  gentry 
attended  him  when  he  returned  to  this  island.  All  foreign 
improvements,  therefore,  in  literature  and  politeness,  in 
laws  and  arts,  seem  now  to  have  been  transplanted  into 
England  :  and  the  spirit  of  liberty,  which  still  continued 
to  animate  the  breasts  of  the  native  English,  communi- 
cated itself  to  the  barons,  who  were  all  yet  of  Norman  ex- 
traction; and  made  themboth  more  desirous  of  independency 
themselves,  and  more  willing  to  indulge  it  to  the  people, 
whom  they  at  first  affected  to  despise,  and  of  restraining 
those  exorbitant  prerogatives  and  arbitrary  exactions,  to 
which  the  necessities  of  war,  and  the  violence  of  conquest 
had  originally  obliged  them  to  submit. 

The  effects  of  this  secret  revolution  in  the  sentiments 
of  men,  we  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  trace.  At 
present  I  must  return  to  the  affairs  of  Germany;  remark- 
ing by  the  way,  that  Henry  II.  left  only  two  legitimate 
sons,  Richard,  who  succeeded  him,  and  John,  commonly 
denominated  Lack-Land,  because  he  inherited  no  territo- 
ry, though  his  father  at  one  time,  had  intended  to  leave 
him  a  large  share  of  his  extensive  dominions. 


LETTER  XXIX. 

THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  AND  ITS  DEPENDENCIES,  ROME  AND 
THE  ITALIAN  STATES,  UNDER  FREDERIC  I.  SURNAMED 
BARBAROSSA,  WITH   SOME   ACCOUNT  OF  THE   THIRD   CRUSADE. 

1  HAVE  already  observed,  my  dear  Philip,  That 

Frederic  duke  ©f  Suabia,  surnamed  Barbai'ossa,  a  prince 

of  great  courage   and  capacity,  was  unanimously  elected 

. .  ^„    emperor  on  the  death  of  his  uncle  Conrad  III. 

not  only  by  the    Germans,  but  also  by   the 

Lombards, 


LIT.  XXIX.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  30a 

Lombards,  who  gave  their  votes  on  that  occasion.  His 
election  was  no  sooner  known,  than  almost  all  the  princes 
of  Europe  sent  ambassadors  to  Mersburg,  to  congratulate 
Kim  on  his  elevation.  The  king  of  Denmark  went  thither 
in  person  for  the  investiture  of  his  dominions ;  and 
Frederic  crowned  the  Danish  monarch  with  his  own  hand, 
and  received  the  oath  of  allegiance  from  him  as  a  vassal 
of  the  empire". 

But  although  the  reign  of  Frederic  thus  auspiciously 
commenced,  it  was  soon  involved  in  troubles,  which  re- 
quired all  his  courage  and  capacity  to  surmount,  and 
which  it  would  be  tedious  circumstantially  to  relate.  I 
shall  therefore  only  observe.  That,  after  having  settled 
the  aifairs  of  Germany,  by  restoring  Bavaria  to  Henry  the 

Lion,  duke  of  Saxony,  the  emperor  marched 

Ad    lJ.55 
intoltaly,  in  order  to  compose  the  disturbances 

of  that  country,  and  be  crowned  by  the  pope,  in  imitation 

of  his  predecessors^. 

Adrian  IV.  who  then  filled  St.  Peter's  chair,  was  an 
Englishman,  and  a  great  example  of  what  may  be  done 
by  personal  merit  and  good  fortune.  The  son  of  a  men- 
dicant, and  long  a  mendicant  himself,  strolling  from 
country  to  country,  he  was  received  as  a  servant  to  the 
canons  of  St.  Rufus  in  Provence  ;  where,  after  a  time, 
he  was  admitted  a  monk,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  abbot, 
and  general  of  the  order,  and  at  length  to  the  pontificate. 
Adrian  was  inclined  to  crown  a  vassal,  but  afraid  of  giving 
himself  a  master  :  he  therefore  insisted  upon  the  Roman 
ceremonial :  which  required,  that  the  emperor  should 
prostrate  himself  before  the  pope,  kiss  his  feet,  hold  his 
stirrup,  and  lead  the  holy  father's  white  palfrey  by  the 
bridle  the  distance  of  nine  Roman  paces. 

Frederic  looked  upon  this  ceremony  as  an  insult,  and 
refused  to  submit  to  it.  On  his  refusal  the  cardinals 
fled,  as  if  the  emperor  had  given  the  signal  of  civil  war; 
and  the  Roman  chancery,  which  kept  a  register  of  every 

X.  Annalde  I'Emp.tom..  i.  2.  Id.  iljid. 

thing 


no  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

thing  of  this  kind,  assured  him  that  his  predecessors  had 
always  complied  with  these  forms.  The  ceremony  of 
kissing  the  pope's  feet,  which  he  knew  to  be  the  establish- 
ed custom,  did  not  hurt  Frederic's  pride,  but  he  could  ^ 
not  bear  that  of  holding  the  bridle  and  the  stirrup,  which 
he  considered  as  an  innovation  :  and  indeed  it  does  not 
appear  that  any  emperor,  except  Lothario,  successor  to 
Henry  V.  had  complied  with  this  part  of  the  ceremony. 
Frederic's  pride,  however,  at  length  digested  these  two 
supposed  affronts,  which  he  construed  only  as  empty 
marks  of  Christian  humility,  though  the  court  of  Rome 
viewed  them  as  proofs  of  real  subjection^ 

But  the  emperor's  difficulties  were  not  yet  over.  The 
citizens  of  Rome  sent  him  a  deputation,  insolently  de- 
manding the  restoration  of  their  ancient  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  offering  to  stipulate  with  him  for  the  imperial 
dignity.  "  Charlemagne  and  Otho  conquered  you  by  their 
"  valour,"  replied  Frederic,  "  and  I  am  your  master  by 
*'  right  of  succession;  it  is  mine  to  prescribe  laws,  and 
*'  yours  to  receive  them."  With  these  words  he  dismissed 
the  deputies,  and  was  inaugurated  without  the  walls  of  the 
city  by  the  pope ;  who  put  the  sceptre  into  his  hand,  and 
the  crown  upon  his  head*. 

The  nature  of  the   empire  was  then  so  little  under- 
_ ,    „  stood,  and  the  pretensions  so  contradictorv, 

A.    D.   1156.  ,  ',  ,,,T>  •• 

that  on  the  one  hand,  the  Roman  citizens 
mutinied,  and  a  great  deal  of  blood  was  spilt,  because 
the  pope  had  crowned  the  emperor,  without  the  consent 
of  the  senate  and  the  people ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  pope 
Adrian,  by  all  his  letters,  declared.  That  he  had  confer- 
red the  benefice  of  the  Roman  empire  on  Frederic  I. 
"  hencfdum  imperii  Romani-y''  now  the  word  beneficium 
literally  signified  a  fief,  though  his  holiness  explained  it 
otherwise.  Adrian  likewise  exhibited,  publickly  in  Rome, 
a  picture  of  the  emperor  Lothario  on  his  knees  before 
pope  Alexander  IL  holding  both  his  hands  joined  between 
those  of  the  pontiff,  which  was  the  distinguishing  mark  of 

3.  Bunau.  JEf/ff.  Fred,  L  M\ir9.t.  Antiq.  Ital.  4.  Id.  ibid. 

vassalage ; 


lET.  XXIX.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  «H 

rassalage ;   and  on  the  picture  was  this  inscription: 

Rex  venit  ante  fores  ^jurans  prius  urhis  honorest 
Post  homo  Jit  papa ;  sumit  quo  dante  coronam^, 

"  Before  the  gates  the  king  appears, 
*'  Home's  honours  to  maintain  he  swears; 
*'  Then  to  the  pope  sinks  lowly  down, 
*'  Who  grants  him  the  imperial  crown.'* 

Frederic,  who  had  retired  to  his  German  dominions, 
was  at  Besangon,  when  he  received  information  of  Adri- 
an's insolence;  and  having  expressed  his  displeasure  at 
it,  a  cardinal  then  present  made  answer,  "  If  he  does 
not  hold  the  empire  of  the  pope,  of  whom  does  he 
hold  it?"  Enraged  at  this  impertinent  speech,  Otho, 
count  Palatine,  would  have  run  the  author  of  it  through 
the  body,  with  the  sword  which  he  wore  as  marshal  of 
the  empire,  had  not  Frederic  prevented  him.  The  car- 
dinal immediately  fled,  and  the  pope  entered  into  a  treaty. 
The  Germans  then  made  use  of  no  argument  but  force, 
and  the  court  of  Rome  sheltered  itself  under  the  ambigu- 
ity of  its  expressions.  Adrian  declared,  that  henejice, 
according  to  his  idea,  signified  2i  favour  not  ^fef  and  he 
promised  to  put  out  of  the  way  the  painting  of  the  conse- 
cration of  Lothario*^. 

A  few  observations  will  not  here  be  improper. 
Adrian  IV.  besieged  by  William  I.  king  of  Sicily,  in 
Benevento,  gave  up  to  him  several  ecclesiastical  preten- 
sions. He  consented  that  Sicily  should  never  have  any 
legate,  nor  be  subject  to  any  appeal  to  the  see  of  Rome, 
except  with  the  king's  permission.  Since  that  time,  the 
kings  of  Sicily,  though  the  only  princes  who  are  vassals 
of  the  pope,  are  in  a  manner  popes  themselves  in  their 
own  island.  The  Roman  pontiffs,  thus  at  once  adored 
and  abused,  somewhat  resembled,  to  borrow  a  remark 
from  Voltaire,  the  idols  which  the  Indians  scourge  to  ob- 
tain favours  from  them. 


5.  Annalr  de  I'Smfi.  torn.  i.    Budau,  ubi  tv.f.  6,  Id.  ibid. 

Adiian 


312  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Adrian,  however,  fully  revenged  himself  upon  other 
princes  who  stood  in  need  of  him.  He  wrote  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner  to  Henry  II.  of  England.  "  There  is 
*'  no  doubt,  and  you  acknowledge  it,  that  Ireland,  and 
*'  all  the  islands  which  have  received  the  faith,  appertain 
"  to  the  Roman  church;  but  if  you  want  to  take  posses- 
*'  sion  of  that  island,  in  order  to  banish  vice  from  it,  to 
"  enforce  the  observance  of  the  Christian  doctrines,  and 
"  with  an  intent  of  paying  the  yearly  tribute  of  St.  Peter's 
,"  penny  for  every  house,  we  with  pleasure  grant  you 
*'  our  permission  to  conquer  it^" 

Thus  an  English  beggar,  become  bishop  of  Rome, 
bestowed  Ireland,  by  his  sole  authority,  upon  an  English 
king,  who  wanted  to  usurp  it,  and  who  had  power  to 
carry  his  design  into  execution. 

The  intrepid  activity  of  Frederic  Barbarossa  had 
not  only  to  subdue  the  pope,  who  disputed  the  empire  ; 
Rome  which  refused  to  acknowledge  a  master,  and  many 
other  cities  of  Italy,  that  asserted  their  independency; 
he  had,  at  the  same  time,  the  Bohemians,  who  had  mu- 
tinied against  him,  to  humble;  and  also  the  Poles,  with 
whom  he  was  at  war.  Yet  all  this  he  effected.  He  con- 
quered Poland,  and  erected  it  into  a  tributary  kingdom: 
he  quelled  the  tumults  in  Bohemia;  and  the 
king  of  Denmark  is  said  to  have  renewed  to 
the  empire  the  homage  for  his  dominions^.  He  secured 
the  fidelity  of  the  German  princes,  by  rendering  himself 
formidable  to  foreign  nations;  and  flew  back  to  Italy, 
where  hopes  of  independency  had  arisen,  in  consequence 
of  his  troubles  and  perplexities.  He  found  every  thing 
there  in  confusion;  not  so  much  from  the  efforts  of  the 
several  cities  to  recover  their  freedom,  as  from  that  party- 
rage,  which  constantly  prevailed,  as  I  have  frequently 
had  occasion  to  observe,  at  the  election  of  a  pope. 

On  the  death  of  Adrian  IV.  two  opposite  factions 
tumultuously  elected  two  persons,  known  by  the  names 

7.  M.  Paris,  Gerald.  Canibr.  Spelm,  Conc'd.      8.  Annal.  de  I'Ewp. 

of 


LET.  XXIX.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  313 

of  Vicior  IV.  and  Alexander  III.     The  ennperoi-'s  allies 
necessarily  acknowledged  the  pope  chosen  by  1 1  to 

him:  and  those  princes,  who  were  jealous 
of  the  emperor,  acknowledged  the  other.  What  was 
the  shame  and  scandal  of  Rome,  therefore  became  the 
signal  of  division  over  all  Europe.  Victor  IV.  Frede- 
ric's pope,  had  Germany,  Bohemia,  and  one  ha'  of 
Italy  on  his  side.  The  other  kingdoms  and  states 
mitted  to  Alexander  III.  in  honour  of  whom  the  Milan- 
ese, who  were  avowed  enemies  to  the  emperor,  built 
the  city  of  Alexandria.  In  vain  did  Frederic's  party 
endeavour  to  have  it  called  Csesaria,  the  pope's  name 
prevailed:  and  it  was  afterwards  called  out  of  derision, 
Alexandria  del  Paglia,  or  Alexandria  built  of  straxv,  on 
account  of  the  ineanness  of  its  buildings'. 

Happy  had  it  been  for  Europe,  if  that  age  had  pro- 
duced no  disputes  attended  with  more  fatal  conse- 
quences; but  unfortunately  that  was  not  the  case.  Mi- 
lan, for  maintaining  its  independency,  was,  nr^ 
by  the  emperor's  orders,  razed  to  the  foun- 
dations, and  salt  strewed  upon  its  ruins;  Brescia  and 
Placentia  were  dismantled  by  the  conqueror;  and  all 
the  other  cities,  which  had  aspired  at  independency, 
were  deprived  of  their  privileges. 

Pope    Alexander    III.    however,   who  had    excited 

these  revolts,   and  had  been   obliged  to  take  refuge  in 

France,  returned  to  Rome,  after  the  death  of  his  rival; 

and,   at  his  return,   the    civil  war  was    renewed.      The 

emperor  caused  another  pope  to  be  elected, 

under   the   appellation  of   Pascal    III.   who 

also  dying  in   a  short  time,  a  third  was  nominated  by 

Frederic,  under  the  title   of  Calixtus  III.      Meanwhile 

Alexander  was  not  intimidated.  He  solemnly 

•      .     ]  .1  1    1      fi  A.  D.  1167. 

excommunicated  the  emperor;  and  the  flames 

of  civil   discord,   which   be    had   raised,    continued   to 

spread.      The   chief  citit^s  of  Italy,   supported  by  the 

9,  Jvi;irat.  Antlq.  luil 
^oi..  I.  Y  y  Greek 


314  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Greek  emperor,  and  the  king  of  Sicily,  entered  into  an 
association  for  the  defence  of  their  liberties;  aiid  the 
A  D.  1168.  ^°P^'  ^^  length,  proved  stronger  by  nego- 
ciation,  than  the  emperor  by  fighting.  The 
imperial  army,  worn  out  by  fatigues  and  diseases,  was 
defeated  by  the  confederates,  and  Frederic  himself  nar- 
rowly escaped  bcinc;  made  prisoner.  About 
A.  D.  1176.    ,       •  y       ,  1    r     ,    ,     ,  ,      .1 

the  same  time  he  was  deieated  at  sea  bv  the 

Venetians,  and  his  eldest  son  Henry,  who  commanded 
his  fleet,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Pope  Alex- 
ander, in  honour  of  this  victory,  sailed  out  into  the 
Adriatic  sea,  or  gulf  of  Venice,  accompanied  by  the 
whole  senate;  and,  after  having  pronounced  a  thousand 
benedictions  on  that  element,  threw  into  it  a  ring  as  a 
mark  of  his  gratitude  and  afl'ection.  Hence  the  origin 
of  that  ceremony  which  is  annually  performed  by  the 
Venetians,  under  the  notion  of  espousing  the  Adri- 
atic'". 

In  consequence  of  these  misfortunes,  the  emperor 
was  disposed  to  an  accommodation  with  the  pope;  but 
his  pride  would  not  permit  him  to  make  any  humiliating 
advance.  He  therefore  rallied  his  troops,  and  exerted 
himself  with  so  much  vigour  in  repairing  his  loss,  that 
he  was  soon  in  a  condition  to  risk  another  battle,  in  which 
his  enemies  were  worsted  :  and  being  no  less  a  poli- 
tician than  a  general,  he  seized  this  fortunate  moment 
to  signify  his  desire  of  peace  to  Alexander  III.  who  re- 
ceived the  proposal  with  great  joy.  Venice  had  the  hon- 
our of  being  the  place  of  reconciliation.  The  emperor, 
the  pope,  and  a  number  of  princes  and  cardinals,  repaired 
. .  _w    to  that  city,  then  mistress  of  the  sea,  and  one 

A.   D. 11 /« . 

of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  There  the  em- 
peror put  an  end  to  his  b!oody  dispute  with  the  see  of 
Rome,  by  acknowledging  thf  pope,  kissing  his  feet,  and 
holding  his   stirrup  while  he  inounted  his  mule"." 

This  reconciliation  was  attend^ed  with  the  submission  of 
all  the  towns  in  Italy,  which  had,  entered  into  an  associa* 
10.  Id.  ibid.  11.  Ediau,  Hist.  Fred.  I. 

t'lon 


LET.  XXIX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  31 » 

tion  for  their  mutual  defence.  They  obtained  a  general 
pardon,  and  were  left  at  liberty  to  the  use  of  their  own 
laws  and  forms  of  government,  but  were  obliged  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  as  their  superior 
lord. 

Calixtus,  the  anti-pope,  finding  himself  abandoned 
by  the  emperor,  in  consequence  of  that  treaty,  made 
his  submissions  to  Alexander  III.  who  received  him  with 
great  humanity;  and  in  order  to  prevent  for  the  future, 
those  schisms  which  had  so  often  attended  ^  ^    ^ 

A.   D.    1179. 

the  election  of  popes,  his  holiness  called  a 

general  council,  in  which  it  was  decreed.  That  no  pope 

should    be   deemed    duly    elected,  without  having    the 

votes  of  two-thirds   of  the  college  of  cardinals  in  his 

favour'-. 

The  affairs  of  Italy  being  thus  settled,  the  emperor 
returned  to  Germany;  where  Henry  the  Lion,  duke  of 
Saxony,  had  raised  fresh  troubles.  He  was  a  proud, 
haughty,  and  turbulent  prince,  like  most  of  his  prede- 
cessors, and  not  only  oppressed  his  own  subjects,  but 
committed  violences  against  all  his  neighbours.  His 
natural  pride  was  not  diminished  by  his  alliance  with 
the  king  of  England,  whose  daughter  he  had  married. 
Glad  of  an  opportunity  of  being  revenged  upon  Henry, 
who  had  abandoned  him  in  his  Italian  expedition, 
Frederic  convoked  a  diet  at    Goslar,    where  the  duke 

was  put  to  the  ban  of  the  empire  ;  and  after  a 

.  c  ,         1  .      A.  D.  1180. 

variety  ot  struggles,  the  sentence  was  put  in 

execution.   He  was  divested  of  all  his  dominions,  which 

were  bestowed  upon  different  vassals  of  the  empire. 

Sensible   of  his   folly  when  too  late,   the  degraded 

duke  threw  himself  at  the  emperor's  feet,  and  begged 

with  great  humility  that  some  of  his  territo- 

A.  D    1181 

ries  might  be  restored.       Frederic,  touched 

with  his  unfortunate  condition,   referred  him  to  a  diet 

©f  the  empire  at  Erfurt.      There  Henry    endeavoured 

12.  Mosheitti,  Hist.  Eccks.  yoI.  iii. 

to 


316  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

to  acquit  himself  of  the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge.  But 
as  it  was  impracticable  immediately  to  withdraw  his 
liefs  from  the  present  possessors,  the  emperor  advised 
him  to  reside  in  England,  until  the  princes  who  had 
shiired  his  dominions  could  be  persuaded  to  relinquish 
them;  and  he  promised  that,  in  the  mean  time,  no  at- 
tempts should  be  made  upon  the  territories  of  Brunswick 
or  Lunenburg,  which  he  would  protect  in  behalf  of  Hen- 
ry's children.  In  compliance  with  this  advice,  the  duke 
retired  to  England,  where  he  was  hospitably  entertained 
by  his  father-in-law,  Henry  II.  and  there  his  wife  bore 
him  a  fourth  son,  from  whom  the  present  house  of 
Brunswick,  and  consequently  the  present  royal  family  of 
England,  is  descended  -\ 

While  tranquillity  was,  in  this  manner,  happily 
restored  to  Italy  and  Germany,  the  Oriental  Christians 
were  in  the  utmost  distress.  The  great  Saladin,  a  prince 
of  Persian  extraction,  and  born  in  the  small  country  of 
the  Curdes,  a  nation  always  warlike,  and  always  free, 
having  fixed  himself,  by  his  bravery  and  conduct,  on  the 
throne  of  Egypt,  began  to  extend  his  conquest  over  all  the 
east  i  and  finding  the  settlements  of  the  Christians  in 
Palestine  an  invincible  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  his 
arms,  he  bent  the  whole  force  of  his  policy  and  valour  to 
subdue  that  small  and  barren,  but  important  territory. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  dissfentions  which  prevailed 
among  the  champions  of  the  Cross,  and  having  secretly 
gained  the  count  of  Tripoli,  v/ho  commanded  their 
armies,  he  invaded  Palestine  with  a  mighty  force  ;  and, 
aided  by  the  treachery  of  that  count,  gained  at  Tiberias 
a  complete  victory  over  them,  which  utterly  broke  the 
power  of  the  already  languishing  kingdom  of 
'  Jerusalem.  The  holy  city  itself  fell  into  his 
hands,  after  a  feeble  resistance  :  the  kingdom  of  Antioch 
also  was  almost  entirely  subdued  by  his  arms  ;  and,  ex- 
cept some  maritime  towns,  nothing  of  importance  remaih- 


13.  Annal,  de  I'Ewp.  torn.  i. 

ed 


LET.  xMix.]       MODERN   EUROPE.  317 

ed  of  those  boasted  conquests,  which,  near  a  century 
before,  had  cost  the  efforts  of  all  Europe  to  acquire"*. 
Clement  III.  who  then  filledthe  papal  chair,  nosooner 
received  these  melancholy  tidings,  than  he  ordered  a 
crusade  to  be  preached  through  all  the  countries  in 
Christendom.  Europe  was  filled  with  grief  and  con- 
sternation at  the  progress  of  the  Infidels  in  Asia.  To 
give  a  check  to  it  seemedthe  common  cause  of  Christians. 
Frederic  Barbarossa,  who  was  at  that  time  employed  in 
making    reerulations  for   the  preservation  of 

A.'D     11S8 

the  peace  and  good  order  of  Germany,  assem- 
bled a  diet  at  Mentz,  in  order  to  deliberate  with  the 
states  of  the  empire  on  this  subject.  He  took  the 
cross  ;  and  his  example  was  followed  by  his  son  Fre- 
deric, duke  of  Suabia,  together  with  sixty-eight  of 
the  most  eininent  German  nobles,  ecclesiastics  as  well 
as  laymen.  The  rendezvous  was  appointed  at  Ratisbon; 
and  in  order  to  prevent  the  inconvenience  of  too  great 
a  multitude,  the  emperor  decreed,  that  no  person  should 
take  the  cross  who  could  not  afford  to  expend  three 
marks  of  silver.  But  notwithstanding  that  regulation, 
wisely  calculated  to  prevent  those  necessities  which  had 
ruined  the  former  armies,  so  great  was  the  zeal  of  the 
Germans,  that  adventurers  assembled  to  the  number  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  fighting  men,  well 
armed,  and  provided  with  necessaries  for  the  expedi- 
tion'^ 

Before  his  departure  Frederic  inade  a  progress 
through  the  principal  cities  of  Germanv,  accompanied 
by  his  son  Henry,  to  whom  he  intended  to  commit  the 
government  of  the  empire;  and  that  he  might  omit 
nothing  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  peace  and 
harmony  during  his  absence,  he  endeavoured  so  to 
regulate  the  succession  to  his  dominions  as  that  none  of 
his  children  should  have  cause  to  complain,  or  any  pre- 
text to  disturb  the  public  tranquillity. 

14.  Ma'mboiirg,  Hist,  des  Croiindes.  15.  Id.  ibid.  Biinau,ubi  supra. 

The 


318  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

The  emperor  in  person  marched  at  the  headof  thirty- 
,  thousand  men,  by  the  way  of  Vienna,  to 
Presburg,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  rest 
of  his  army.  He  thence  proceeded  through  Hungary, 
into  the  territories  of  the  Greek  emperor  ;  who,  not- 
withstanding his  professions  of  friendship,  had  been 
detached  from  the  interests  of  Frederick  by  Saladin's 
promises  and  insinuations,  and  took  all  opportunities  of 
harassing  the  Germans  in  their  march.  Incensed  at  this 
periidv,  Frederic  hiid  the  country  under  contribution  ; 
took  and  plundered  Philippolis  ;  defeated  a  body  of 
Greek  troops  that  attacked  him  by  surprize  ;  and  com- 
pelled Isaacus  Angelas,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  to 
sue  for  peace.  He  wintered  at  Adrianople  ;  crossed  the 
^  Hellespont  in  the  spring  ;  refreshed  his  troops 
a  short  time  at  Laodicea  ;  defeated  the  Turks 
in  several  battles  ;  took  and  pillaged  the  city  of  Iconium, 
and  crossed  mount  Taurus.  All  Asia  was  filled  with  the 
terror  of  his  name.  He  seemed  to  be  among  the  soldiers 
of  the  cross,  what  Saladin  was  among  the  Turks;  an 
able  politician,  and  a  good  general,  tried  by  fortune. 
The  Oriental  Christians,  therefore,  flattered  themselves 
with  certain  relief  from  his  assistance.  But  their  hopes 
were  suddenly  blasted.  This  great  prince,  who  was  an 
expert  swimmer,  ventured  to  bathe  in  the  cold  river 
Cydnus,  in  order  to  refresh  himself  after  fatigue  in  a 
sultry  climate,  pei-haps  in  emulation  of  the  Macedonian 
conqueror;  and  by  that  means  caught  a  mortal  distemper, 
which  at  once  put  an  end  to  his  life  and  his  bold  enttr- 
prize"". 

Thus  unfortunately  perished  Frederic  I.  in  the  sixty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirty-eighth  of  his  reign; 
a  prince  of  a  firm  spirit,  and  strong  talents,  who  had  the 
good  of  his  country  always  at  heart,  and  who  supported 
the  dignity  of  the  empire  with  equal  courage  and  reputa- 
tion.     He   was  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by  his 

16.  Maimbourg,  ubi  sup.     Biinau,   Hist.  Fred.  I. 

son 


LET.  XXX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  319 

son  Henry  VI.  surnamed  the  Severe.  But  before  I  enter 
on  the  reign  of  that  prince,  my  dear  Philip,  I  must  carry 
forward  the  hisxory  of  the  third  crusade,  continued  by  the 
kings  of  France  and  England. 


LETTER  XXX. 


FRAWCE  AND  ENGLAND,  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  HENRY  II.  TO  THE 
GRANTING  OF  THt  GREAT  CHARTER  BY  KING  JOHN,  WITH 
A  FARTHER  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  THIRD  CRUSADE. 

X  HE  death  of  Henry  II.  was  an  event  esteemed 
equally  fortunate  by  his  son  Richard, and.  by  Philip  Augus- 
tus, king  of  France.  Philip  had  lost  a  dangerous  and  im- 
placable enemy,  and  Richard  got  possession 
of  that  crown  which  he  had  so  eagerly  pur- 
sued. Both  seemed  to  consider  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Land  as  the  sole  purpose  of  their  government;  yet  neither 
was  so  much  impelled  to  that  pious  undertaking  by 
superstition,  as  by  the  love  of  military  glory.  The  king 
of  England,  in  particular,  carried  so  little  the  appearance 
of  sanctity  in  his  conduct,  that,  when  advised  by  a  zealous 
preacher  of  the  crusade  (who  from  that  merit  had  acquired 
the  privilege  of  speaking  the  boldest  truths)  to  rid  him- 
self of  his  pride,  avarice,  and  voluptuousness,  which  the 
priest  affectedly  called  the  king's  three  favourite  daugh- 
ters ;  Richard  promptly  replied,  "  You  counsel  well ! — 
"  and  I  hereby  dispose  of  the  first  to  the  Templars,  of 
"  the  second  to  the  Benedictines,  and  of  the  third  to  my 
"  Bishops'." 

The   reiterated   calamities  attending  the  former  cru- 
sades,   taught    the    king's  of  France    and    England  the 

1.  M.  Westminst. 

necessitv 


320  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

necessity  of  trying  another  road  to  the  Holy  Land.  They 
determined  to  conduct  their  armies  thither  by  sea;  to 
carry  provisions  along  with  them  ;  and,  by  means  of  their 
naval  power,  to  maintain  an  open  communication  with  their 
,,^^    own  states,   and  with  all  the  western  parts  of 

A.D.  1190.     „  T^l       r  1  f  ,  1 

iiiUrope.  1  he  tirst  place  ot  rendezvous  was  the 
plains  of  Vezelay,  on  the  borders  of  Burgundy,  when 
Philip  and  Richard  found  their  armies  amount  to  one 
hundred  thousand  men  :  an  invincible  force,  animaterl  by 
religion  and  glory,  and  conducted  by  two  warlike  mo- 
narchs.  They  renewed  their  promises  of  mutual  friend- 
ship ;  pledged  their  faith  not  to  invade  each  other's 
dominions  during  the  crusade,  and  exchanging  the  oaths 
of  all  their  barons  and  prelates  to  the  same  effect,  then 
separated.  Philip  took  the  road  to  Genoa,  Richard  that 
to  Marseilles,  both  with  a  view  of  meeting  their  fleets, 
which  were  severally  appointed  to  assemble  in  those 
harbours^  They  put  to  sea  together  ;  and  both,  nearly 
about  the  same  time,  were  obliged  by  stress  of  weather  to 
take  shelter  in  Messina,  where  they  were  detained  during 
the  whole  winter.  This  event  laid  the  foundation  of 
animosities  between  them,  which  were  never  afterwards 
entirely  removed,  and  proved  ultimately  fatal  to  their 
armament. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  that  subject,  a  few  words  rela- 
tive to  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the  two 
princes  will  be  necessary.  Philip  and  Richard,  though 
professed  friends,  were,  by  the  situation  and  extent  of 
their  dominions,  rivals  in  power  ;  by  their  age  and  in- 
clinations, competitors  for  glory :  and  these  causes  of 
emulation,  which  might  have  stimulated  them  to  martial 
efforts,  had  they  been  acting  in  the  field  against  the 
common  enemy,  soon  excited  quarrels,  during  their 
present  leisure,  between  monarchs  of  such  fiery  tempers. 
Equally  haughty,  ambitious,  intrepid,  and  inflexible,  they 
■were  irritated  at  the  least  appearance  of  injury,  and  they 

2.  R.  Hoveden.     Gaus.  Vinisauf.     Iter,  HierosoU  lib.  ii. 

were 


lET.  XXX.]  MODERN  EUROPE*  321 

were  incapable,  by  mutual  condescensions,  to  efface  those 
Occasions  of  complaint '  which  mutually  arose  between 
them.      Nor  were  other  sources  of  discord  wanting. 

William  II.  the  last  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  had 
married  Joan,  sister  to  Richard;  and  that  prince  dying 
without  issue^  had  bequeathed  his  dominions  to  his  pa- 
ternal sister  Constantia,  the  only  legitimate  offspring 
surviving  of  Roger,  the  Norman,  who  conquered  those 
states  from  the  Greeks  and  Saracens,  as  we  have  already 
seen.  Henry  VI.  then  emperor  of  Germany,  had  married 
this  princess,  in  expectation  of  that  rich  inheritance;  but 
Tancred,  her  natural  brother,  by  his  interest  among  the 
Sicilian  nobles,  had  acquired  possessionof  the  throne,  and 
maintained  his  claim  against  all  the  efforts  of  the  empire* 
The  approach  of  the  crusaders  naturally  gave  the  king  of 
Sicily  apprehensions  for  his  unstable  government:  and  he 
was  uncertain  whether  he  had  most  reason  to  dread  the 
presence  of  the  French  or  English  monarch.  Philip  was 
engaged  in  strict  alliance  with  the  emperor,  Tancred'4 
competitor;  Richard  was  disgusted  by  his  rigour  towards 
the  queen-dowager,  v/hom  he  confined  in  Palermo,  be- 
cause she  had  opposed  his  succession  to  the  crown. 
Sensible,  therefore,  of  the  delicacy  of  his  situation,  Tan- 
cred resolved  to  pay  his  court  to  both  these  princes:  nor 
was  he  unsuccessful  in  his  endeavours.  He  persuaded 
Philip,  that  it  would  be  highly  improper  to  interrupt  the 
expedition  against  the  infidels  by  any  attack  upon  a 
Christian  prince:  he  restored  queen  Joan  to  her  liberty, 
and  even  found  means  to  make  an  alliance  with  Richard. 
But  before  this  friendship  was  cemented,  Richard,  jealous 
both  of  Tancred  and  the  inhabitants  of  Messina,  had  taken 
Up  his  quarters  in  the  suburbs,  and  possessed  himself  of 
a  small  fort,  which  commanded  the  harbour.  The  citizens 
took  umbrage.  Mutual  insults  and  injuries  passed  between 
them  and  the  English  soldiers.  Philip,  who  had  quartered 
his  troops  in  the  town,  endeavoured  to  accommodate 
the  quarrel,  and  held  a  conference  with  Richard  for  that 
purpose. 

VOL.  I.  3?  a  While 


S»  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

While  the  two  kings,  who  met  in  the  open  fields,  were 
engaged  in  discourse  on  this  subject,  a  body  ot  the  Sici- 
lians seemed  to  be  drawing  towards  them.  Richard, 
always  aident  and  inipatient,  pushed  forward,  in  order  to 
learn  the  cause  of  that  extraordinary  movement ;  and  the 
English  adventurers,  insolent  from  their  power,  and  in- 
flamed by  former  animosities,  wanting  only  a  f>rf;tence  to 
attack  tlie  Messinese,  chased  them  from  the  field,  drove 
them  into  the  town,  and  entered  with  them  at  the  gates. 
The  king  employed  his  authority  to  restrain  them  from 
pillage  or  massaciing  the  defenceless  inhabitants;  but 
he  gave  order  that  the  standard  of  England,  in  token  of 
the  victo^ry,  should  be  erected  on  the  walls.  Philip,  who 
considered  the  citv  of  Messina  i:s  his  quarters,  exclaimed 
agains-t  the  arrogance  of  the  English  monarch,  and  order- 
ed some  of  his  troops  to  pull  down  the  standard.  But 
Richard  informed  him  by  a  messenger,  that  although  he 
Would  willingly  himself  remove  that  ground  of  offence,  he 
would  not  permit  it  to  be  done  by  others:  and  if  the 
French  king  attempted  such  an  insult  on  his  digivity,  h« 
should  not  succeed  but  by  the  utmost  effusion  of  blfood» 
Philip,  satisfied  with  this  species  of  haughty  con-descen- 
sion,  recalled  his  orders,  aiid  the  difference  was  seemingly 
accommodated ;  but  the  seeds  of  rancour  and  jealousy 
still  remained  in  the  breasts  of  the  two  monarchs\ 

After  leaving  Sicily,  the  English  fleet  was  assailed  by 

^  ,^     a  funous  tempest.    It  was  driven  on  the  coast 
A.D.  1191.     f    ,,  '  r     ,  , 

ot   Cyprus,    and    some   or    the   vessels    were 

wrecked  near  Lemis^o  in  that  island.  laaac  Comnenus, 
despot  of  Cyprus,  who  had  assumed  the  magnificent  title 
of  emperor,  pillaged  the  ships  that  were  stranded,  and 
threw  the  seamen  and  passengers  into  prison.  But  Rich- 
ard, who  arrived  soon  after,  took  ample  vengeance  on  him 
for  the  injury.  He  disembarked  his  troops  ;  defeated  the 
tyrant  who  opposed  his  landing  ;  entered  Lemisso  by 
»torm  ;  gained  next  day  a  second  victory  ;  obliged  Isaac 

3v  Bcued.  Abtas.    M.  Paris.     G.  Vinisauf,  ubi  sup. 


XET.  XXX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  323 

to  surrender  at  discretion;  established  governors  over  the 
island  ;  and  afterwards  conferred  it  as  a  sovereignty  upon 
Guy  of  Lusignan,  the  expelled  king  of  Jerusalem.  Thrown 
into  prison,  and  loaded  with  irons,  the  Greek  prince  com- 
plained of  the  little  respect  with  which  he  was  treated. 
Richard  ordered  silver  fetters  to  be  made  for  him  ;  and 
this  phantom  of  an  emperor,  pleased  with  the  distinction, 
expressed  a  sense  of  the  generosity  of  his  conqueror"* ! 

Richard,  by  reason  of  these  transactions  at  C}  prus, 
was  later  of  arriving  in  Asia  than  Philip.  But  the  English 
monarch  came  opportunely  to  partake  in  the  glory  ot  the 
siege  of  Ptolemais;  a  sea-port  town,  which  had  been  in- 
vested above  two  years  by  the  united  forces  of  all  the 
Christians  in  Palestine,  and  defended  by  the  utmost 
efforts  of  Saladin  and  the  Saracens.  Before  this  place, 
Frederic,  duke  of  Suabia,  son  of  the  emperor  Barbarossa, 
and  who  succeeded  him  in  the  command,  together  w^ith 
the  remains  of  the  German  army,  had  perished.  The 
arrival  of  the  armies  of  France  and  England,  however, 
with  Philip  and  Richard  at  their  head,  inspired  new  life 
into  the  besiegers:  and  the  emulation  between  these  rival 
kings,  and  ri\al  nations,  produced  extraordinary  acts  of 
valour.  Richard  especially,  animated  by  a  more  precipitate 
courage  than  Philip,  and  more  agreeable  to  the  romantic 
spirit  of  that  age,  drew  to  himself  the  attention  of  all  the 
religious  and  military  world,  and  acquired  a  great  and 
splendid  reputation.  Ptolemais  was  taken.  The  Sarace^ 
garrison,  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  surrendered  them- 
selves prisoners  of  war;  and  the  governor  engaged  that 
Saladin,  besides  paying  a  large  sum  for  their  ransom, 
should  release  two  thousand  five  hundred  Christian  pri- 
soners of  distinction,  and  restore  the  wood  of  the  true 
cross^ 

4.  II)id. 

5.  Benedict  Abbaj.  G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  Hi.  Saladin  refused  to  ratify  the 
treaty;  and  the  Saracen  prisoners,  to  the  number  of  five  thousand,  were  in- 
kuman!/  butchered.     Id.  ibid. 

Thus, 


354  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  was  this  famous  siege,  which 
had  so  long  engaged  the  attention    of   all    Europe    and 
Asia,  brought  to  the  desired  close,  after  the  loss  of  three 
hundred  thousand  men,  exclusive  of  persons  of  superior 
rank;  six  archbishops,  twelve  bishops,  forty  earls,  and  five 
hundred  barons.      But  the  French  monarch,    instead  of 
pursuing  the  hopes  of  farther  conquest,  and  redeeming  the 
holy  city  from  slavery,    being  disgusted  with   the  ascen- 
dant assumed  and  acquired  by  the  king  of  England,  and 
having  views  of  many  advantages,   which  he  might  reap' 
by  his  presence  in  Europe,  declared  his  resolution  of  re- 
turning to  France;  and  he  pleaded  his  ill  state  of  health  as 
an  excuse  for  his  desertion  of  the  common  cause.  He  left, 
however,  to  Richard  ten  thousand  of  his  tfoops,  under  the 
commandof  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  and  he  renewed  his  oath 
never  to  commit  hostilities  against  that  prince's  territories 
during  his  absence.  But  no  sooner  did  he  reach  Italy  than 
he  applied  to  pope  Celestine  III.  for  a  dispensation  from 
his  vow;  and  though  denied  that  request  he  still  proceed- 
ed, but  after  a  more  concealed  manner,  in  his  unjust  pro- 
jects.     He  seduced  Prince  John,  king  Richard's  brother, 
from  his  allegiance,  and  did  every  thing  possible  to  blacken 
the  character  of  that  monarch  himself;  representing  him 
as  privy  to  the  murder  of  the  marquis  de  Montserrat,  who 
had  been  taken  off,  as  was  well  known,  by  an  Asiatic  chief, 
called   The  old  Man  of  the  3Iountai?i,  the   prince  of  the 
jis.?assms:  a  word   which  has  found   its  way   into  most 
European  languages,  from  the  practice  of  these  bold  and 
determined  ruffians,   against   whom  no    precaution   was 
sufficient  to  guard  any  man,  how  powerful  soever,  and 
whose  resentment  the  marquis  had  provoked  . 

But  Richard's  heroic  actions  in  Palestine,   were  the 
best  apology  for  his  conduct.    The  Christian  adventurers, 

^    ^      under  his  command,  determined,  on  openinjr 
A.  D.  1192,  .  . 

'  the  campaign,  to  attempt  the  siege  of  Ascalon, 

in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for  that  of  Jerusalem:  and 

6.  W.  Heming.  J.  Eromptom.  G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  iii.  Bymei-,  vol.  i. 

they 


^ET.  XXX.]         MODERN    EUROPE.  32J 

they  marched  along  the  sea-coast  with  that  intention.  Sala- 
din  proposed  to  intercept  their  passage,  and  placed  him- 
self on  the  road  with  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand 
combatants,  ("^n  this  occasion  was  fought  one  of  the 
greatest  battles  of  that  age,  and  the  most  celebrated  for 
the  military  genius  of  the  commanders;  for  the  number 
and  valour  of  the  troops,  and  for  the  great  variety  of 
events  which  attended  it.  The  right  wing  of  the  Christian 
army,  commanded  by  d'Avesness,  and  the  left,  conduct- 
ed by  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  were  both  broken  in  tha 
beginning  of  the  day,  and  in  danger  of  being  utterly  de- 
feated; when  Richard,  who  commanded  in  the  centre,  and 
led  on  the  main  body,  restored  the  battle.  He  attacked 
the  enemy  with  admirable  intrepidity,  and  presence  ot 
mind;  performed  the  part  of  a  consummate  general  and 
gallant  soldier;  and  not  only  gave  his  two  wings  leisure 
to  recover  from  their  confusion,  but  obtained  a  complete 
victor}' over  the  Saracens,  forty  thousand  of  whom  are  said 
to  have  been  slain  in  the  field^.  Ascalon  soon  after  fell 
into  the  handsof  the  Christians:  other  sieges  were  carried 
on  v/ith  success ;  and  Richard  was  even  able  to  advance 
within  sight  of  Jerusalem,  the  great  object  of  his  hopes 
and  fears,  when  he  had  the  mortification  to  find,  that  he 
must  abandon  all  thoughts  of  immediate  success,  and  put 
a  stop  to  the  career  of  victory. 

Animated  with  an  enthusiastic  ardour  for  these  holy- 
wars,  the  champions  of  the  cross,  at  first,  laid  aside  all 
regard  to  safety  or  interest  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
pious  purpose;  and,  trusting  to  the  immediate  assistance 
of  Heaven,  set  nothing  before  their  eyes  but  fame  and 
victory  in  this  world,  and  a  crown  of  glory  in  the  next. 
But  long  absence  from  home,  fatigue,  disease,  famine, 
and  the  varieties  of  fortune  which  naturally  attend  war, 
had  gradually  abated  that  fury  which  nothing  was  able  in- 
stantly to  allay  or  withstand.  Every  leader,  except  the 
king  of  England,  expressed  a  desire  of  speedily  returning 

7.  G.  Vinisauf.  lib-  iv. 


936  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

to  Europe;  so  that  there  appeared  an  absolute  necessity  of 
abandoning,  for  the  present,  all  hopes  of  farther  conquest, 
and  of  securing  the  acquisitions  ctf  the  adventurers  by  an 
accommodation  with  Saladin.  Richard,  therefore,  con- 
cluded a  truce  with  that  monarch;  stipulating  that  Ptole- 
mais,  Joppa,  and  other  sea-port  towns  of  Pnlestine,  should 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Christians,  and  that  every  one 
of  that  religion  should  have  liberty  to  perform  his  pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem  unmolested*^.  This  truce  was  con- 
cluded for  three  years,  three  months,  three  Aveeks,  three 
days,  and  three  hours;  a  magical  number,  suggested  by 
a  superstition  well  suited  to  the  object  of  the  war. 

Saladin  died  at  Damascus,  soon  after  concluding 
the  truce  with  the  leaders  of  the  crusade.  He  was  a 
prince  of  great  generosity  and  valour  ;  and  it  is  truly 
memorable,  that,  during  his  fatal  illness,  he  ordered 
his  winding  sheet  to  be  carried  as  a  standard  through 
every  street  of  the  city,  while  a  crier  went  before  the 
person  who  bore  that  ensign  of  mortality,  and  proclaim- 
ed with  a  loud  voice,  "  This  is  all  that  remains  to 
*'  the  mighty  Saladin,  the  conqueror  of  the  Eastl"  His 
last  will  is  also  remarkable.  He  ordered  charities  to 
be  distributed  to  the  poor,  without  distinction  of  Jew 
Christian,  or  Mahometan";  intending  by  this  legacy  to 
inculcate,  that  all  men  are  brethren,  and  that,  when  we 
would  assist  them,  we  ought  not  to  inquire  what  they 
believe,  but  what  they  feel:  an  admirable  lesson  to 
Christians,  though  from  an  Infidel  I  But  the  advantage 
of  science,  of  moderation,  and  humanity  were  at  that 
time,  indeed,  entirely  on  the  side  of  the  Saracens. 

After  the  truce  Richard  had  no  further  business  in 
Palestine,  and  the  intelligence  which  he  received  of  the 
intrigues  of  his  brother  John  and  the  king  of  France, 
made  him  sensible  that  his  presence  was  necessary  in 
Europe.  Not  thinking  it  safe,  however,  to  pass  through 
France,  he  sailed  to  the  Adriatic;  and  being  shipwreck- 


8.  W.  Hemins;.  lib.  ii.     G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  vi.      9.  Id.  ibid. 

cd 


iET.  x:ix.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  *%7 

ed  near  Aquileia,  he  put  on  the  habit  of  a  pilgrim,  with 
an  intention  of  taking  his  journey  secretly  through  Ger- 
many. But  his  liberality  and  expenses  betrayed  him. 
He  was  arrested  and   thrown  into  prison  by 

AD    119S 

Leopold,  duke  of  Austria,  whom  he  had 
offended  at  the  siege  ol  Ptolemais,  and  who  sold  him 
to  the  emperor  Henry  VI.  who  had  taken  offence  at 
Richard's  alliance  with  Tancred,  king  of  Sicil}^,  and 
was  glad  to  have  him  in  his  power".  Thus  the  gallant 
king  of  England,  who  had  filled  the  whole  world  with 
his  renown,  found  himself,  during  the  most  critical  state 
of  his  affairs,  confined  to  a  dungeon,  in  the  heart  of 
Germany;  loaded  with  irons,  and  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  his  enemv,  the  basest  and  most  sordid  of  mankind". 
While  the  high  spirit  of  Richard  suffered  every  in- 
sult and  indignity  in  Germany,  the  king  of  France  em* 
ployed  every  means  of  force  and  intrigue,  of  war  and 
negociation,  against  the  dominions  and  the  person  of  his 
unfortunate   rival.   He    made   the   emperor  the  largest 

10  W.  Neubr.    M.  Paris. 

11.  Cbron.  T.  Wykes.  Not  only  the  place  of  Richard's  confinement,  if 
we  believe  the  literary  history  of  the  times,  but  even  the  circumstance  of 
his  captivity,  was  carefully  concealed  by  his  vindictive  enemies:  and  both 
nlight  have  remained  unkaown,  but  for  the  grateful  attachment  of  a  Pro- 
vencal bard,  or  minstrel,  named  Blondel,  who  had  shared  that  prince'* 
friendship,  and  tasted  his  bounty.  Having  travelled  overall  the  European 
continent  to  learn  the  history  of  his  beloved  patron,  who  was  a  poet,  ic 
appears,  as  well  as  a  hero,  Blondel  accidentally  got  rntelligence  of  acer- 
tarn  castle  in  Germany,  where  a  prisoner  of  distinction  was  confined,  and 
guarded  with  great  vigilance.  Persuaded,  by  a  secret  impulse,  that  this 
prisoner  was  the  king,  of  England,  the  minstrel  repaired  to  the  place.  But 
the  gates  of  the  castle  were  shut  against  him,  and  he  could  obtain  no  in- 
formation relative  to  the  name  or  quality  of  the  unhappy  person  it  secured. 
In  this  extremity,  he  bethought  himself  of  an  expedient  for  making  the 
desired  discovery.  He  chanted,  with  a  loud  voice,  some  verses  of  a  song, 
which  had  been  composed  partly  by  himself,  partly  by  Richard ;  and  to  his 
unspeakable  joy,  on  making  a  pauss,  he  heard  it  re-echoed  and  continued 
by  the  royal  captive.  {Hist.  Troubadours.)  To  this  discovery  the  English 
monarch,  is  s^iid  to  have  owed  eventualJ/  hi«  rejisasd. 

ofFerS) 


328  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

offers,  if  he  would  deliver  into  his  hands  the  royal  pri- 
soner: he  formed  an  alliance  bymarriage  with  Denmark, 
desiring  that  the  ancient  Danish  claim  to  the  crown  of 
England  might  be  transferred  to  him  :  he  concluded  a 
treaty  with  prince  John,  the  king's  brother,  who  is  said 
to  have  done  homage  to  him  for  the  English  crown  j 
and  he  invaded  Normandy,  while  the  traitor  John  at* 
tempted  to  make  himself  master  of  England  *. 

In  the  mean  time  Richard  being  produced  before  a 
diet  of  the  empire,  made  such  an  impression  on  the  Ger- 
man princes  by  his  eloo^uence  and  spirit,  that  they  exclaim- 
ed loudly  against  the  conduct  of  the  emperor.  The  pope 
also  threatened  him  with  excommunication;  and  al- 
though Henry  had  listened  to  the  proposals  of  the  king 
of  i'rance  and  prince  John,  he  found  it  would  be  imprac- 
ticable for  him  to  execute  his  and  their  base  purposes, 
or  to  retain  any  longer  the  king  of  England  in  captivity. 
He  therefore  concluded  a  treaty  witJi  Richard  for  his 
ransom,  and  agreed  to  restore  him  to  his  freedom  lor  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  marks  of  pure  silver,  about 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  our  present  money  3. 

As   soon   as  Philip  heard  of  Richard's   release,  he 

wrote  to  his  confederate  John  in  these  em- 

1-1  1        ..   T'  1  r  ir,   A-    D.    1194-. 

phatical  words:   "    lake  care  ot  yourselt! 

the  devil  is  broke  loose."  How  diiferent  on  this  occa- 
sion were  the  sentiments  of  the  English  nation! — Their 
joy  was  extreme  on  the  appearance  of  their  king,  who 
had  acquired  so  much  glory,  and  spread  the  reputation 
of  their  name  to  the  farthest  East.  After  renewing  the 
ceremony  of  his  coronation,  amid  the  acclamations  of  all 
ranks  of  people,  and  reducing  the  fortressses  which  still 
remained  in  the  hands  of  his  brother's  adherents,  Ri- 
chard passed  over  with  an  army  into  Normandy;  impa- 
tient to  make  war  upon  Philip,  and  to  revenge  himself 
for  the  many  injuries  he  had  sustained  from  that  mo- 
narch'"*. 

J2.  M.  Paris.    W.  Hemiug.  R.  Hoveden.  13.  Rymer,  vol.  i. 

J4.  K.  Hoveden. 

Whe« 


lit.  XXX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  529 

When  we  consider  two  such  powerful  attd  warlike 
monarchs,  inflamed  with  personal  animosit)^  against 
each  other  ;  enraged  by  mutual  injuries  ;  excited  by 
rivalship;  impelled  by  opposite  interests,  and  instigated 
by  the  pride  and  violence  of  their  own  temper,  our  cu- 
riosity is  naturally  raised,  and  we  expect  an  obstinate 
and  furious  war,  distinguished  by  the  greatest  events, 
and  concluded  by  some  remarkable  catastrophe.  We 
find  ourselves  however,  entirely  disappointed;  the  taking 
of  a  castle,  the  surprize  of  a  straggling  party,  a  rencon- 
tre of  horse,  which  resembles  more  a  route  than  a  battle, 
comprehend  the  whole  of  the  exploits  on  both  sides:  a 
certain  proof,  as  a  great  historian  observes  of  the  weak- 
ness of  princes  in  that  age,  and  of  the  little  authority 
which  they  possessed  over  their  refractory  vassals'^. 

During  this  war,  which  continued  with  short 
intervals  till  Richard's  death,  prince  JoTin  deserted 
Philip  ;  threw  himself  at  his  brother's  feet,  craved  par- 
don for  his  offences,  and  was  received  into  favour,  at 
the  intercession  of  his  mother  queen  Eleanor.  "  I  for- 
give him  with  all  my  heart,"  said  the  king  ;  "  and  I 
hope  I  shall  as  easily  forget  his  offences,  as  he  will  my 
pardon^." 

Peace    was  just   ready   to    be    concluded   betweeti 

England    and    France,    when    Richard    was  ^.>s^ 

.  A.  Di  1 199. 

unfortunately  slain  by  an  arrow,  before  an 

inconsiderable    castle   which  he   besieged,   in  hopes  of 

taking  from  one   of  his  vassals  a  great  mass  of  gold 

which  had  been  found  hid  in  the  earth.      The  story  is 

thus  related  : 

Vidomar,  viscount  of  Limoges,  had  found  a  treasure, 

of  which  he  sent   part  to  the  king,  as   a  present.      But 

Richard,  as  superior  lord,  claimed  the  whole  :   and,   at 

the  head  of  some  Braban^ons,  besieged  the  count  in  the 

castle  of  Chalus,  in  order  to  make  him  comply  with  his 

demand.      The   garrison  offered  to  surrender  ;   but  the 

15.  Hume,  Hist.  Tin^land,  vol.  ii.  16.  M.  Paris. 

VOL.  I.  3  A  king 


330  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

king  replied,  since  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  come 
thither  and  besiege  the  place  in  person,  he  would  take 
it  by  force,  and  hang  every  one  of  them.  The  same 
day  Richard,  accompanied  by  Marcadee,  leader  of  his 
Brabancons,  went  to  survey  the  castle  ;  when  one  Ber- 
trand  de  Gourdon,  an  archer,  took  aim  at  him,  and  pierc- 
ed his  shoulder  with  an  arrow.  The  king,  however^ 
gave  orders  for  the  assault ;  took  the  place  and  hanged 
all  the  garrison,  except  Gourdon,  whom  he  reserved  for 
a  more  cruel  execution^* 

Richard's  wound  was  not  in  itself  dangerous,  but 
the  unskilfulness  of  the  surgeon  made  it  mortal;  and 
when  the  king  found  his  end  approaching,  he  sent  for 
Gourdon,  and  demanded  the  reason  why  he  sought  his 
life.  "  My  father,  and  my  two  brothers,"  replied  the 
undaunted  soldier,  "  fell  by  your  sword,  and  you 
"  intended  to  have  executed  me.  I  am  now  in  your 
"  power,  and  you  may  do  your  worst  ;  but  I  shall  en- 
**  dure  the  most  severe  torments  with  pleasure,  provided 
"  I  can  think  that  Heaven  has  afforded  me  such  great 
*'  revenge,  as,  with  my  own  hand,  to  be  the  cause  of 
"  your  death."  Struck  with  the  boldness  of  this  reply,, 
and  humbled  by  his  approaching  dissolution,  Richard 
ordered  the  prisoner  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  a  sum  of 
money  to  be  given  him.  But  the  blood-thirsty  Braban<^on^ 
Marcadee,  a  stranger  to  such  generosity,  seized  the  un- 
happy man,   flayed  him  alive,   and  then  hanged  him^^. 

The  most  shining  part  of  the  character  of  Richard  I.- 
was   his    military   talents.      No   man,  even   in  that  ro- 

17.  R.  Hoveden.    J.  Brompton. 

18.  Hoveden.  The  Brabancons  were  ruffian  mercenaries,  formed  out 
of  the  numerous  bands  of  robbers,  who,  during  the  middle  ages,  infested 
every  country  of  Europe,  and  set  the  civil  magistrate  at  defiance.  Exclud- 
ed the  protection  of  general  society,  these  banditti  formed  a  kind  of  govern- 
ment among  themselves.  Troops  of  them  were  sometimes  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  one  princeor  baron,  sometimes  in  that  of  another ;  and  they  often 
acted  in  an  independent  manner,  under  leaders  of  their  own.  W.  Neubrig, 
Chron.  Gerv. 

mantis 


HET.  XXX.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  3SI 

mantle  age,  carried  personal  courage  or  intrepidity  to  a 
greater  height;  and  this  quality  obtained  him  the  appel- 
lation of  Cocur  de  Lion,  or  the  Lion-hearted  Llero.  As 
he  left  no  issue  behind  him,  he  Avas  succeeded  by  his 
brother  John. 

The  succession  was  disputed  by  Arthur,  duke  of 
Britanny,  son  of  Geoffrey,  the  elder  brother  of  Johnj 
and  the  barons  of  Anjou,  Maine,  and  Touraine,  de- 
clared in  favour  of  this  young  prince's  title.  The  king 
of  France,  whose  daughter  he  espoused, 
also  assisted  him;  and  every  thing  pro-  ^'  ^'  ^'^^^•' 
mised  success,  when  Arthur  was  unfortunately  taken 
prisoner  by  his  uncle  John,  and  inhumanly  murdered. 
The  fate  of  this  unhappy  prince  is  differently  relat- 
ed, but  the  following  account  seems  the  most  probable. 
After  having  employed  unsuccessfully  different  assassins 
John  went  himself  in  a  boat,  by  night,  to  the  castle  of 
Rouen,  where  Arthur  was  confined,  and  ordered  him  to 
be  brought  forth.  Aware  of  his  danger,  and  subdued 
by  the  continuance  of  his  misfortunes,  and  by  the  ap- 
proach of  death,  the  brave  youth,  who  had  before  gal- 
lantly maintained  the  justice  of  his  cause,  threw  himself 
on  his  knees  before  his  uncle,  and  begged  for  mercy. 
But  the  barbarous  tyrant,  making  no  reply,  stabbed  his 
nephew  to  the  heart;  and  fastening  a  stone  to  the  dead 
body,   threw  it  into  the  Seine '9. 

John's  misfortunes  commenced  with  his  crime.  The 
whole  world  was  struck  with  horror  at  his  barbarity; 
and  he  was,  from  that  moment,  detested  by  his  subjects 
both  in  England  and  on  the  continent.  The  Bretons 
disappointed  in  their  fondest  hopes,  waged  implacable 
war  against  him,  in  order  to  revenge  the  murder  of 
their  duke;  and  they  carried  their  complaints  before  the 
French  monarch,  as  superior  lord,  demanding  justice 
for  the  inhuman  violence  committed  by  John  on  the 
person  of  Arthur.    Philip  II.  received  their  application 

19.  T,  Wykes.    W.  Heming.    M.  Paris.    H.  Knighton. 

with 


833  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

with  pleasure:  he  summoned  John  to  stand  trial  before 
him  and  his  peers  :  and,  on  his  non-appearance,  he  was 
declared  guilty  of  felon}^  and  parricide,  and  all  his  fo- 
reign dominions  were  adjudged  forfeited  to  the  crown 
of  France-". 

Nothing  now  remained  but  the  execution  of  thia 
sentence,  in  order  to  complete  the  glory  of  Philip, 
whose  active  and  ambitious  spirit  had  long  with  impa- 
tience borne  the  neighbourhood  of  so  powerful  a  vassal 
as  the  king  of  England,  He  therefore  greedily  embraced 
the  present  favourable  opportunity  of  annexing  to  the 
French  crown  the  English  dominions  on  the  continent^ 
^  project  which  the  sound  policy  of  Henry  11.  and  the 
military  genius  of  Richard  I.  had  rendered  impractica- 

^r^^.   ble   to   the  most  vigorous  efforts,  and  most 
A.  D.  1204 

*  dangerous  intrigues,    of  this  able  and  artful 

prince.      But  the    general  defection  of  John's   vassals 

rendered  every  enterprize  easy  against  him;  and  Philip 

not  only  re-united  Normandy  to  the  crown  of  France, 

but  successively  reduced  Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine,  and 

part  of  Poitou  under  his  dominion^'.      Thus,   by  the 

baseness  of  one  prince,   and   the  intrepidity 

A.  D.  1205.  r  '  r         7 

of  another,    the  French  monarchy  received, 

in  a  few  years,  such  an  accession  of  power  and  gran- 
deur as,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  it  would  have 
required  several  ages  to  attain. 

John's  arrival  in  England  completed  his  disgrace.  He 
saw  himself  universally  despised  by  the  barons,  on  ac- 
count of  his  pusillanimity  and  baseness;  and  a  quarrel 
with  the  clergy  drew  upon  him  the  contempt  of  that 
order,  and  the  indignation  of  Rome.  The  papal  chair 
was  then  filled  by  Innocent  III,  who  having  been  exalt- 
ed to  it  at  a  more  early  period  of  life  than  usual,  and 
being  endowed  with  a  lofty  and  enterprising  genius,  gave 
full  scope  to  his  ambition,  and  attempted,  perhaps  more 
ppenly   than   any   of  his   predecessors,  to    convert  that 

50.  Annal,  Mcfrgan.    M.  W«8t.      29.  Cbron,  7revlt,    Ypod.  Neust. 

ghostly 


LET.  XXX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  S33 

ghostly  superiority,  which  was  yiehled  him  by  all  the 
European  princes,  into  a  real  dominion  over  them ; 
strongly  inculcating  that  extravagant  maxim,  ''  That 
*'  neither  princes  nor  bishops,  civil  governors  nor  eccle- 
*'  siastical  rulers,  have  any  lawful  power,  in  church  or 
*'  state,  but  what  they  derive  from  the  pope."  To  this 
pontiff  an  appeal  was  made  relative  to  the 
election  of  an  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Two  primates  had  been  elected;  one  by  the  monks  or 
canons  of  Christ-church,  Canterbury,  and  one  by  the 
suffragan  bishops,  who  had  the  king's  approbation.  The 
pope  declared  both  elections  void  ;  and  commanded  the 
monks,  under  penalty  of  excommunication,  to  chuse  for 
their  primate  cardinal  Langton,  an  Englishman  by  birth,' 
but  educated  in  France,  and  connected  by  his  interests 
and  attachments  with  the  see  of  Rome. 
The  Monks  complied  :  and  John,  inflamed 
with  rage  at  such  an  usurpation  of  his  prerogative,  expel- 
led them  the  convent;  swearing  by  God's  teeth,  his  usual 
oath,  that,  if  the  pope  gave  him  any  farther  disturbance, 
he  would  banish  all  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  England-^, 
Innocent,  however,  knew  his  weakness,  and  laid  the 
kingdom  under  an  interdict ;  at  that  time  the  grand  in- 
strument of  vengeance  and  policy  employed  against  sove- 
reigns by  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  execution  of  this  sentence  was  artfully  calculated 
to  strike  the  senses  in  the  highest  degree,  and  to  ope- 
rate with  irresistible  force  on  the  superstitious  minds  of 
the  people.  The  nation  was  suddenly  deprived  of  all 
exterior  exercise  of  its  religion:  the  altars  were  despoiled 
of  their  ornaments;  the  crosses,  the  reliques,  the  images, 
the  statues  of  the  saints  were  laid  on  the  ground;  and, 
as  if  the  air  itself  had  been  profaned,  and  might  pollute 
them  by  its  contact,  the  priests  carefully  covered  them  up, 
even  from  their  own  approach  and  veneration.  The  use  of 
bells  entirely  ceased  in  all  the  churches;   the  bells  them- 

22.  M.  Paris. 

selves 


3r.4  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  t. 

selves  were  removed  from  the  steeples,  and  laid  on  the 
ground  with  the  other  sacred  utensils.  Mass  was  celebrated 
with  shut  doors,  and  none  but  the  priests  were  admitted  to 
that  holy  institution.  The  laity  partook  of  no  religious  rite, 
except  baptism  of  new-born  infants,  and  the  communion 
to  the  dying.  The  dead  were  not  intrrred  in  consecrat- 
ed ground  :  they  were  thrown  into  ditches,  or  buried  in 
the  common  fields;  and  their  obsequies  were  not  attended 
with  prayers,  or  any  hallowed  ceremony.  The  people 
were  prohibited  the  use  of  meat,  as  in  Lent,  and  debarred 
from  all  pleasures  and  amusements.  Every  thing  wore 
the  appearance  of  the  deepest  distress,  and  of  the  most 
immediate  apprehensions  of  divine  vengeance  and  indig- 
nation^3. 

While  England  groaned  under  this  dreadful  sentence, 
a  new  and  very  extraordinary  scene  disclosed  itself  on  the 
continent.  Pope  Innocent  III.  published  a  crusade  against 
the  Albigenses,  a  species  of  sectaries  in  the  south  of 
France,  whom  he  denominated  heretics  ;  because,  like 
all  sectaries,  they  neglected  the  rites  of  the  church,  and 
opposed  the  power  and  influence  of  the  clergy.      Moved 

.^^  V    ^y  that  mad  superstition,  which  had  hurried 
A   D.  1209.  .      .  .     • 

such  armies  into  Asia,  in  order  to  combat  the 

infidels,  and  the  reigning  passion  for  wars  and  adventures, 

people  flocked   from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  the  standard 

of  Simon    de    Montfort,    the    general   of    this   crusade. 

The  count  of  Thoulouse  who  protected  the  Albigenses, 

23.  John,  besides  banishing  the  bishops,  and  confircating;  the  estates 
of  all  the  ecclesiastics  who  obeyed  the  interdict,  took  a  very  singular  and 
severe  revenge  upon  the  clergy.  In  order  to  distress  them  in  the  tender- 
est  point,  and  at  the  same  time  expose  them  to  reproach  and  ridicule,  he 
threvi'  into  prison  all  their  concubines.  (M.  Paris.  Jn.  Waver/.)  These 
concubines  were  a  sort  of  inferior  wives,  politically  indulged  to  the  clergy 
by  the  civil  magistrate,  after  the  members  of  that  sacred  body  were  enjoin, 
ed  celibacy  by  the  canons  of  the  church.  Padre  Paolo,  Hist.  Cone.  Trid. 
lib.  i. 


was 


iET.  XXX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  335 

was  stripped  of  his  dominions  ;  and  these  unhappy  peo- 
ple themselves,  though  the  most  inoffensive  of  mankind, 
were  exterminated  with  all  the  circumstances  of  the  most 
unfeeling  barbarity-'^. 

Innocent  having  thus  made  trial  of  his  power,  carried 
still  farther  his  ecclesiastical  vengeance  against  the  king 
of  England,  who  was  now  both  despised  and  hated  by 
his  subjects  of  all  ranks  and  conditions.  He  gave  the 
bishops  of  London,  Ely,  and  Worcester,  authoritv  to 
denounce  against  John  the  sentence  of  excommunication. 
His  subjects  were  absolved  from  their  oath  of  allegiance, 

and  a  sentence  of  deposition  soon  followed. 

TO  L-     1      .  .  -1  J    A.  D.  1213. 

JDUt  as  this  last  sentence  required  an  armed 

force  to  execute  it,  the  pontiff  pitched  on  Philip  II.  king 
of  France,  as  the  person  into  whose  hand  he  could  most 
properly  entrust  so  terrible  a  weapon:  and  he  proffered 
that  monarch,  besides  the  remission  of  all  his  sins,  and 
endless  spiritual  benefits,  the  kingdom  of  England  as  the 
rewai'd  of  his  labour-5. 

Seduced  by  the  prospect  of  present  interest,  Philip 
accepted  the  pope's  liberal  offer  ;  although  he  thereby 
ratified  an  authority  which  might  one  day  tumble  him 
from  his  throne,  and  which  it  was  the  common  concern 
of  all  princes  to  oppose.  He  levied  a  great  army;  sum- 
moned all  the  vassals  of  his  crown  to  attend  him  at 
Rouen;  Collected  a  fleet  of  seventeen  hundred  vessels, 
great  and  small,  in  the  sea-ports  of  Normandy  and  Picar- 
dy;  and  partly  by  the  zeal  of  the  age,  partly  by  the  per- 
sonal regard  universally  paid  him,  prepared  a  force  which 
seemed  equal  to  the  greatness  of  his  enterprlze.  John 
on  the  other  hand,  issued  out  writs,  requiring  the  attend- 
ance of  all  his  military  vassals  at  Dover,  and  even  of  all 
able-bodied  men,  to  defend  the  kingdom  in  this  dangerous 
extremity.  An  infinite  number  appeared,  out  of  which 
he  selected  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men-'^.     He  had 

24.  HUt.  Alhlg. 

25.  M.  Paris.  M,  'VVestminst,  26.  Ibid. 

also 


336  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

also  a  formidable  fleet  at  Portsmouth  and  he  might  have 
relied  on  the  fidelity  of  both;  not  indeed  from  their  at- 
tachment to  him,  but  from  that  spirit  of  emulation  which 
has  so  long  subsisted  between  the  natives  of  England  and 
France. 

All  Europe  was  held  in  expectation  of  a  decisive  ac- 
tion between  the  two  kings,  when  the  pope  artfully  trick- 
ed them  both  and  took  to  himself  that  tempting  prize, 
which  he  had  pretended  to  hold  out  to  Philip.  This  ex- 
traordinary transaction  was  negociated  by  Pandolfo,  the 
pope's  legate  to  France  and  England.  In  his  way  through 
France,  he  observed  Philip's  great  armament,  and  highly 
commended  his  zeal  and  diligence.  He  thence  passed 
to  Dover,  under  pretence  of  negociating  with  the  barons 
in  favour  of  the  French  king,  and  had  a  conferrence  with 
John  on  his  arrival.  He  magnified  to  that  prince  the 
number  of  the  enemy,  and  the  disaffection  of  his  own 
subjects:  intimating,  that  there  was  yet  one  way,  and 
but  one,  to  secure  himself  from  the  impending  danger  ; 
namely,  to  put  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  pope, 
who  like  a  kind  and  merciful  father,  was  still  willing  to 
receive  him  into  his  bosom. 

John,  labouring  under  the  apprehensions  of  present 
terror,  listened  to  the  insidious  proposal,  and  abjectly" 
agreed  to  hold  his  dominions  as  a  feudatory  of  the  church 
of  Rome.  In  consequence  of  this  agreement,  he  did 
homage  to  the  pope  in  the  person  of  his  legate,  Pandolfo, 
with  all  the  humiliating  rites  which  the  feudal  law 
required  of  vassals  before  their  liege-lord  and  superior. 
He  came  disarmed  into  the  presence  of  the  legate,  who 
was  seated  on  a  throne  ;  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees 
before  it  ;  he  lifted  up  his  joined  hands,  and  put  thera 
between  those  of  Pandolfo,  and  swore  fealty  to  the  pope  in 
the  following  words.  "  I  John,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
"  king  of  England  and  lord  of  Ireland,  for  the  expiation 
**  of  my  sins,  and  out  of  my  own  free  will,  with  the  advice 
"  and  consent  of  my  barons,  do  give  unto  the  church  of 
"  Rome,  and  to  pope  Innocent  III.  and  his  successors,  the 

kingdoms 


LLT.  XXX.]         MODERN   EUROPE.  2-yr 

"  kingdoms  of  England  and  Ireland,  together  with  all  the 
"  rigiits  belonging  to  them;  and  will  hold  them  of  the 
*'  pope,  of  his  vassal.  I  will  be  faithful  to  God,  to  the 
*'  ciiurch  of  Rome,  to  the  pope  my  lord,  and  to  his  suc- 
*'  ctssors  lawfally  elected;  and  I  bind  myself  to  pay  him 
*'  a  tribute  of  one  thousand  marks  of  silver  yearly;  to 
*'  wii,  seven  hundr-d  for  the  kingdom  of  England,  and 
*'  three  hundred  for  Ireland^?." 

Part  of  the  money  was  immediately  paid  to  the  legate, 
as  an  earnest  of  the  subjection  of  the  kingdom:  after 
which  the  cown  and  sceptre  were  also  delivered  to  him. 
The  insolent  Italian  trampled  the  money  under  his  feet, 
indicating  thereby  the  pope's  superiority  and  the  king's 
dependent  stale,  and  kept  the  regalia  five  days;  then  re- 
turned them  to  John,  as  a  favour  from  the  pope,  their 
common  master. 

During  this  shameful  negociation,  the  French  mo- 
narch waited  impatiently  at  Boulogne  for  the  legate's  re- 
turn, in  order  to  put  to  sea.  The  legate  at  length 
returned  ;  and  the  king,  to  his  utter  astonishment, 
was  given  to  understand,  that  he  was  no  longer  per-? 
wiitted  to  attack  England,  which  was  become  a  fief  oC 
the  church  of  Rome,  and  its  king  a  vassal  of  the  holy  see, 
Philip  was  enraged  at  this  intelligence:  he  swore  he 
would  no  longer  be  the  dupe  of  such  hypocritical  preten- 
ces ;  nor  would  he  have  desisted  from  his  enterprize  but 
for  weightier  reasons.  His  fleet  was  utterly  destroyed  by 
that  of  England;  and  the  emperor  Otho  IV.  who  at  once 
disputed  the  empix^e  with  Frederick  II.  son  to  Henry  VI. 
and  Italy  with  the  pope,  as  we  shall  afterwards  have  oc- 
casion to  see,  had  entered  into  an  alliance  with  his  uncle, 
the  king  of  England,  in  order  to  oppose  the  designs  of 
France,  now  become  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 
With  this  view  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  prodigious 
force;  and  the  French  monarch  seemed  in  danger  of  be- 
ing crushed  for  having  grasped  at  a  present  proffered  him 
by  the  pope. 

27.  Rymer,  vol.  i.  M.    Paris,  Hist  Major. 
VOL.  I.  3  ^  Philip, 


338  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Philip,  however,  advanced  undismayed  to  meet  his 
enemies,  with  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  chosen  men, 
commanded  by  the  chief  nobility  of  France,  and  including 
tAvelve  hundred  knights,  and  between  sixand  seven  thousand 
gens-cCarraes.  The  emperor  Otho,  on  the  other  side,  had 
with  him  the  earl  of  Salisbury,  bastard  brother  to  king 
John,  the  count  of  Flanders,  the  duke  of  Brabant,  seven 
or  eight  German  princes,  and  a  force  superior  to  that  of 
Philip.  The  two  armies  met  near  the  village  of  Bouvines, 
between  Lisle  and  Tournay,  where  the  allies  were  totally 
routed,  and  thirty  thousand  Germans  are  said  to  have 
been  slain^**. 

This  victory  established  for  ever  the  glory  of  Philip, 
and  gave  full  security  to  all  his  dominions.  John  could 
therefore  hope  for  nothing  farther,  than  henceforth  to 
rule  his  own  kingdom  in  peace;  and  his  close  alliance 
with  the  pope,  which  he  was  determined  at  any  price  to 
maintain,  ensured  him,  as  he  imagined,  the  certain 
attainment  of  that  felicity.  How  much  was  he  deceived! 
A  truce  was  indeed  concluded  with  France,  but  the  most 
grievous  scene  of  this  prince's  misfortunes  still  awaited 
him.  He  was  doomed  to  humble  himself  before  hi« 
own  subjects,  that  the  rights  of  Englishmen  might  be 
restored,  and  the  privileges  of  humanity  secured  and 
ascertained. 

The  conquest  of  England  by  William  the  Norman, 
and  the  introduction  of  the  feudal  government  into  the 
kingdom,  had  much  infringed  the  liberties  of  the  natives. 
The  whole  people  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  vassalage 
under  the  king  or  barons,  and  even  the  greater  part  of 
them  to  a  state  of  actual  slavery.  The  necessity  also  of 
devolving  great  power  into  the  hands  of  a  prince  who 
was  to  maintain  a  military  dominion  over  a  vanquished 
nation,  had  induced  the  Norman  barons  to  subject  them- 
selves to  a  more  absolute  authority,  as  I  have  already 
had  occasion  to  observe,  than  menof  their  rank  commonly 
gubmitted  to  in  other  feudal  governments;  so  that  England 

28,  Gul.  Brit.  Vit  Phil.  August.  Nag.  Chron.  P.  iEmil. 

during 


LET.  XXX.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  339 

during  the  course  of  an  hundred  and  fifty  years  had 
groaned  under  a  tyranny  unknown  to  all  the  kingdoms 
founded  by  the  northern  conquerors.  Prerogatives  once 
exalted  are  nut  easily  reduced.  Different  concessions 
had  been  made  by  different  princes,  in  order  to  serve 
their  temporary  purposes;  but  these  were  soon  disregard- 
ed and  the  same  unlimited  authority  continued  to  be  ex- 
ercised both  by  them  and  their  successors.  The  feeble 
reign  of  John,  a  prince  equally  odious  and  contemptible 
to  the  whole  nation,  seemed  therefore  to  afford  all  ranks 
of  men  a  happy  opportunity  of  recoverirg  their  natural 
and  constitutional  rights; — and  it  was  not  neglected. 

The  barons  entered  into  a  confederacy,  and  formally 
demanded  a  restorationof  their  privileges;  and, 
that  their  cause  might  wear  the  greater  appear- 
ance of  justice,  they  also  included  those  of  the  clergy  and 
the  people.  They  took  arms  to  enforce  their  request:  they 
laid  waste  the  royal  domains:  and  John,  after  employing 
a  variety  of  expedients,  in  order  to  divert  the  blow  aimed 
at  the  prerogatives  of  his  crown,  was  obliged  to  lower 
himself,  and  treat  with  his  subjects. 

A  conference  was  held  between  the  king  and  the 
barons  at  Runnemede,  between  Windsor  and  Stains;  a 
spot  ever  since  deservedly  celebrated,  and  even  hallowed 
by  every  zealous  lover  of  liberty.  There  John,  after  a 
debate  of  some  days,    signed  and  sealed  the    _ 

I UNE      19 

famous  Magna  Char ta^  or  Great  Charter; 
which  either  granted  or  secured  very  important  privileges 
to   every  order  of  men  in  the  kingdom — to  the  barons, 
to  the  clergy,  and  to  the  people. 

What  these  privileges  particularly  were  you  will  best 
learn,  my  dear  Philip,  from  the  charter  itself,  which 
deserves  your  most  early  and  continued  attention,  as  it 
involves  all  the  great  out-lines  of  a  legal  government,  and 
provides  for  the  equal  distribution  of  justice,  and  free  en- 
joyment of  property;  the  chief  objects  for  which  political 
society  was  first  fotmded  by  men,  v  hich  the  people  have  a 
perpetual  and  unalienable  right  to  recall,  and  which  no 

time, 


340  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

time,  nor  })recedenr,  nor  statute,  nor  jtositive  institution, 
ought  to  deter  them  irom  keeping  ever  uppermost  in  their 
thou  gilts  9. 

The  better  to  secure  the  execution  of  this  charter,  the 
barons  stipuhited  with  the  king  for  the  privileges  of 
choosing  twenty-five  members  ol  their  own  order,  as  con- 
servators ot  the  public  ii!)erties:  and  no  bounds  were  set 
to  the  authority  of  these  noblemen,  either  in  extent  or 
duration.  If  complaint  was  made  of  a  violation  of  he 
charter,  any  lour  of  the  conservators  might  admonish  the 
king  to  redress  the  grievance;  and.  if  satisfaction  was  not 
obtained,  thev  could,  assemble  the  whole  council  of 
twenty-five.  This  august  body,  in  conjunction  with  the 
great  council  of  thf  nation,  was  empowered  to  compel  him 
to  observe  the  charter,  and  in  case  of  resistance,  might 
levy  war  agair.st  him.  All  men  tb.roughout  tlie  kingdom 
were  btnuul,  under  penalty  of  confiscation,  to  swear 
obedience  to  the  five  and  twenty  barons;  and  the  free- 
holders of  each  county  were  to  chuse  twelve  knights,  who 
should  make  report  of  such  evil  customs  as  required,  re- 
dress,  conformable  to  the  tenor  of  the  Great  Charter'". 

In  what  manner  John  acted  after  granting  the  charter, 
and  under  these  regulations,  to  which  he  seemed  passively 
to  submit,  together  witli  their  influence  on  the  English 
constitution,  and  on  the  affairs  of  France,  we  shall  after- 
wards have  occasion  to  see.  At  present  we  must  cast 
our  eyes  on  the  other  states  of  Europe. 

29.  The  most  valuable  stipulation  in  this  charter,  and  the  grand  secu- 
rity of  the  lives,  liberties,  and  properties  of  Englishmen,  was  the  follou-- 
ing  concession.  "  No  freeman  shall  be  apprehended  or  imprisoned,  or 
•' disseised,  or  outlawed,  or  banished,  or  any  other  way  destroyed;  nor 
"  will  WE  go  upon  bim,  nor  will  we  send  upon  him,  except  by  the  legal 
"  juJ^ment  of  his  been ,  or  by  the  law  of  the  land."  {^Mag.  Chart.  Ar^^ 
xxxii.)  The  stipulation  r,e.\t  in  importance  seems  to  be  the  singular 
con:cs.sion,  that  •'  no  man  will  we  sell,  to  no  man  will  we  delay  right 
"  iiud  justice."  (Ibid.  Art.  xxxiii.)  Theseconcessions  shew,  in  a  very  strong 

ight,  the  violences  and  iniquitous  practices  of  the  Anglo-Norman  princes, 

30.  M.  Paris.  Kymer,  vol.  i. 

LETTER 


LET.  XXXI.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  341 

LETTER  XXXI. 


THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  AND  ITS  DEPENDENCIES,  R05IE  AND 
TH:-:  ITALIAN  STATKS,  FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  VI. 
TO  THE  ELECTION  OF  RODOLrH  OF  HAPSBURG,  FOUNDER  OF 
THE  HOUSE  OF  AUSTRIA,  WITH  A  CONTINUATION  Of  THE 
HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

It  is  necessary,   my  dear   Philip,    that  I  should 

here  recapitulate  a  little  ;  for  there  is  no  portion  of  Modern 

History  more  pernlexed,  than  that  under  review. 

'i'he  emperor,  Frederic  Barbarossa,  died,  as  you  have 

seen,    in  his  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land;    and  his  son, 

Henry  VI.  received  almost  at  the  same  time  intelligence 

of  the  death  of  his  father  and  his  brother- 

A.   D.   1190. 
in-law,  William  king  of  Naples  and  Sicil)^, 

to  v/hose  dominions  he  was  heir  in  right  of  his  wife.  After 
settling  the  affairs  of  Germany,  he  levied  an  army,  and 
marched  into  Italy,  in  order  to  be  crowned  by  the  pope, 
and  go  with  the  em{)ress  Constantia  to  recover  the  suc- 
cession of  Sicily,  which  was  usurped  by  Tancred,  her 
natural  brother.  With  this  view  he  endeavoured  to  con- 
ciliate the  affections  of  the  Lombards,  by  enlarging  the 
privileges  of  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  other  cities,  in  his  way  to 
Rome.     There  the  ceremony  of  coronation 

f  !      .1  1  r  r  ,         A.    D.    1191, 

was  periormed,  tlie  day  alter  Easter,  by 
Celestine  III.  accompanied  with  a  very  remarkable  cir- 
cumstance. That  pope,  who  was  then  in  his  eighty-sixth 
year,  had  no  sooner  placed  the  crown  upon  Henry's  head, 
than  he  kicked  it  off  again;  as  a  testimony  of  the  power 
residing  in  the  sovereign  pontiff,  to  make  and  immake 
emperors '. 

Henry  now  prepared  for  the  conquest  of  Naples  and 
Sicily,  in  which  he  was  opposed  by  the  pope.  For  although 

1.  R.  Hoveden.     JnnaL  Heiss.  lib.  ii. 

Celestina 


343  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  x. 

Celestine  considered  Tancred  as  an  usurper,  and  wanted 
to  see  him  deprived  of  the  crown  of  Sicily,  which  he 
claimed,  in  imitation  of  his  predecessors,  as  a  fief  of  the 
holy  see,  he  was  still  more  averse  against  the  empero'rs 
possessing  that  kingdom;  because  such  an  accession  of 
territory  would  have  rendered  him  too  powerful  in  Italy 
for  the  interests  of  the  church.  He  dreaded  so  formidable 
a  vassal.  Henry,  however,  without  paying  any  regard  to 
the  threats  and  remonstrances  of  his  holiness,  took 
almost  all  the  towns  of  Campanra,  Apulia,  and  Calabria; 
invested  the  city  of  Naples,  and  sent  for  the  Genoese 
fleet,  which  he  had  engaged  to  come  and  form  the 
blockade  by  sea.  But,  before  its  arrival,  he  was  obliged 
to  raise  the  siege,  in  consequence  of  a  dreadful  mortality 
among  his  troops,  and  all  future  attempts  upon  the  king- 
dom of  Naples  and  Sicily  proved  ineffectual  during  the 
life  of  Tancred^ 

The  emperor,  after  his  return  to  Germany,  incorpo- 
rated  the  Teutonic  knights  into  a  regular 
order,  religious  and  military,  and  built  a 
house  for  them  at  Coblentz.  These  Teutonic  knights, 
and  also  the  Knights  Templars,  and  Knights  Hospitallers, 
were  originally  monks,  who  settled  in  Jerusalem,  when 
it  was  first  taken  by  the  champions  of  the  Cross.  They 
were  established  into  religious  fraternities  for  the  relief 
of  distressed  pilgrims,  and  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
wounded,  without  any  hostile  purpose.  But  the  holy  city 
being  afterwards  in  danger,  they  took  up  arms,  and  made 
a  vow  to  combat  the  Infidels,  as  they  had  formerly  done 
to  combat  their  own  carnal  inclinations.  The  enthusiastic 
zeal  of  the  times  increased  their  members:  they  grew 
wealthy  and  honourable;  were  patronized  in  Europe  by 
different  princes,  and  became  a  militia  of  conquerors^. 
Their  exploits  I  shall  have  occasion  to  relate. 

In   what    manner   Richard  I.    king   of  England   was 
arrested  on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  by  Leopold 

2.  Sigon.  Reg.  Ital.  lib.  xv.  3.  Hcylot.  HUt.  des  Ordres. 

duke 


LET.  XXXI.]      MODERN  EUROPE.  349 

duke  of  Austria,   and  detained  prisoner  by  tbe  emperor, 

we  have  already  seen.      As   soon  as  Henry  received  the 

money  for  that  prince's  ransom,  he  made  new  ..„. 

■^     .  f         ,  f  c-    -1  J  A.  D.  1194. 

preparations  lor  the  conquest  ol  oicily;    and 

'I'ancred  dying  about  the  same  time,  he  effected  his  pur- 
pose by  the  assistance  of  the  Genoese.  The  queen  dowage* 
surrendered  Salerno,  and  her  right  to  the  crown,  on  con- 
dition that  her  son  William  should  possess  the  principality 
of  Tarentum.  But  Henry,  joining  the  most  atrocious 
cruelty  to  the  basest  perfidy,  no  sooner  found  himself 
master  of  the  place,  than  he  ordered  the  infant  king  to 
be  castrated;  to  have  his  eyes  put  out,  and  be  confined  in 
a  dungeon.  The  royal  treasure  was  transported  to  Ger- 
many, and  the  queen  and  her  daughter  were  shut  up  in 
a  convent''-. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Sicily,  the 
empress,  though  near  the  age  of  fifty,  was  delivered  of  a 
son  named  Frederick.  And  Henry,  in  the  plenitude  of 
his  power,  assembled  soon  after  a  diet  of  the  German 
princes  to  whom  he  explained  his  intention  of  rendering 
the  imperial   crown  hereditary,  in  order  to  prevent  those 

disturbances   which   attended  the  election  of 

A   J  J  r       u  A.D.  1195. 

emperors.      A  decree  was  passed  tor  that  pur- 
pose; and  Frederick  II.  yet  in  his  cradle,   was  declared 
king  of  the  Romans^. 

In  the  mean  time  the  emperor  was  solicited  by  the 
pope  to  engage  in  a  new  crusade,  for  the  relief  of  the 
Christians  in  the  Holy  Land.  Henry  obeyed,  but  took 
care  to  turn  it  to  his  advantage.  He  convoked  a  ge- 
neral diet  at  Worms,  where  he  solemnly  declared  his  re- 
solution of  employing  his  whole  power,  and  even  of 
hazarding  his  life  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  holy  an 
undertaking:  and  he  expatiated  on  the  subject  with  so 
much  eloquence,  that  almost  the  whole  assembly  took  the 
cross.  Nay,  such  multitudes,  from  all  the  provinces  of 
the  empire,  enlisted  themselves,  that  Henry  divided  them 

4.  Sigon.  Reg.  Ital.     Kelius,  de  Beg.  Napol.  et  Sicil. 
5-  Lunig.  Arch.  Imp.     Heiss,  lib.  ii. 

into 


344  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

into  three  large  armies ;  one  of  which,  under  the  command 
of  the  bishop  of  Mentz,  took  the  route  of  Hungary,  where 
it  was  joined  by  Margaret,  queen  of  that  country,  who 
entered  herself  in  this  pious  expedition,  and  actually  end- 
ed her  days  in  Palestine.  The  second  army  was  assem- 
bled in  Lower  Saxony,  and  embarked  in  a  fleet  furnished 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Lubec,  Hamburg,  Holstein,  and 
Friesland;  and  the  emperor  in  person  conducted  the  third 
into  Italy,  in  order  to  take  vengeance  upon  the  Nor- 
mans of  Naples  and  Sicily,  who  had  risen  against  his 
government''. 

The  rebels  were  humbled,  and  their  chiefs  condemned 
to  perish  by  the  most  excruciating  tortures.  One  Jornan- 
di,  of  the  house  of  the  Norman  princes,  was  tied  naked 
on  a  chair  of  red-hot  iron,  and  crowned  with  a  circle  of 
the  same  burning  metal,  which  was  nailed  to  his  head. 
'1  he  empress,  shocked  at  such  cruelt}-,  renounced  her 
faith  to  her  hvtsband,  and  encouraged  her  countrymen  to 
recover  their  liberties.  Resolution  sprung  from  despair. 
The  inhabitants  betook  themselves  to  arms,  the  empress 
Constantia  headed  them;  and  Henry  having  dismissed 
his  troops,  no  longer  thought  necessary  to  his  bloody  pur- 
poses, and  sent  them  to  pursue  their  expedition  to  the 
Holy  Land,  (blessed  atonement  for  his  crimes  and  theirs!) 
was  obliged  to  submit  to  his  wife,  and  to  the  conditions 
which  she  was  pleased  to  impose  on  him  in  favour 
of  the  Sicilians.     He  died  at  Messina,    soon    after   this 

treaty;  and,  as  was  supposed,  of  poison  admi- 
A.  D.  1197.    -Ill  1  mi- 

nistered by  the  empress,   who  saw  the  rum 

of  her  coitntry  batching  in  his  perfidious  and  vindictive 
hearth 

But  Henr}',  amid  all  his  baseness,  possessed  many 
great  qualities.  He  was  active,  eloquent,  brave;  his  ad- 
ministration was  vigorous,  and  his  policy  deep.  None 
of  the  successors  of  Charlemagne  were  evermore  feared 
and  obeyed,  either  at  home  or  abroad. 

6.  Giannone,  Hist,  di  NapoL  7.  Id.  ibid.  Relius,  ubi  sup. 

Thft 


Lf.T.  xxxi.J         MODERN    EUROPE.  345 

The  emperor's  son  Frederic,  having  ab'eacly  been 
declared  king  of  the  Romans,  becam-e  emperor  on  the 
death  of  his  father.  But  as  Frederic  II,  was  yet  a  minor, 
the  administration  was  committed  to  hh  uncle,  Philip 
duke  of  Suabia,  both  by  the  will  of  Henry  and  by  an  as- 
sembly of  the  German  princes.  Other  princes,  liowever, 
incensed  to  see  an  elective  empire  become  hereditary, 
held  a  new  diet  at  Cologne,  and  chose  Otho  duke  of 
l5runswick,  son  of  Henry  the  Lion.  Frederic's  title  was 
confirmed  in  a  third  assembly,  at  Arnsburp;; 
and  his  uncle  Philip  was  elected  king  of  the 
Romans,  in  order  to  give  greater  weight  to  his  adminis- 
tration^. 

These  two  elections  divided  the  empire  into  two 
powerful  factions,  and  involved  all  Germany  in  ruin  and 
desolation.  Innocent  III.  who  had  succeeded  Celestine 
in  the  papal  chair,  threw  himself  into  the  scale  of  Otho, 
and  excommunicated  Philip  and  all  his  adherents.  This 
able  and  ambitious  pontiff  (of  whom  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  speak)  was  a  sworn  enemy  to  the  house  of 
Suabia;  not  from  any  personal  animosity,  but  out  of  a  prin- 
ciple of  policy.  That  house  had  long  been  terrible 
to  the  popes,  by  its  continued  possession  of  the  imperial 
crown:  and  the  accession  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and 
Sicily,  made  it  still  more  to  be  dreaded.  Innocent,  there- 
fore, gladly  seized  the  present  favourable  opportunity  for 
divesting  the  house  of  Suabia  of  the  empire,  by  support- 
ing the  election  of  Otho,  and  sowing  divisions  among  the 
Suabian  party.  Otho  was  also  patronized  by  his  uncle, 
the  king  of  England;  a  circumstance  which  naturally  in- 
clined the  king  of  France  to  the  side  of  his  rival.  Faction 
clashed  with  faction;  friendship  with  interest:  capri<,e, 
ambition,  or  resentment  gave  the  sway;  and  nothing  was 
beheld  on  all  hands,  but  the  horrors  and  miseries  of  civil 
•war'. 

-8.  Krantz.lib.  viii.     Heiss,  lib.  ii.       9.  Id.  ibid    Annal  de  fEmpAom.'i. 
VOL.  I.  3  e  Meanwhile 


346  THE  HISTORY  OF  [^art  u 

Meanwhile  the  empress  Constantia  remained  in  Sicily, 
where  all  was  peace,  as  regent  and  guardian  of  her  in- 
fant son,  Frederic  II.  who  had  been  crowned  king  of 
that  island,  with  the  consent  of  pope  Celestine  III.  But 
she  also  had  her  troubles.  A  new  investiture  from  the 
holy  see  being  necessary,  on  the  death  of  Celestine,  In- 
nocent III.  his  successor,  took  advantage  of  the  critical 
situation  of  affairs  for  aggrandizing  the  papacy  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  kings  of  Sicily.  They  possessed,  as  v/e 
have  seen,  the  privilege  of  filling  up  vacant  benefices,  and 
of  judging  all  ecclesiastical  causes  in  the  last  appeal:  they 
were  really  popes  in  their  own  island,  though  vassals  of 
his  holiness.  Innocent  pretended  that  these  powers  had 
been  surreptitiously  obtained;  and  demanded  that  Con- 
stantia should  renounce  them  in  the  name  of  her  son,  and 
do  liege,  pure,  and  simple  homage  for  Sicily.  But  before 

1  ->^^     ^'"y  thing  was  settled  relative  to  this  affair, 

A.    D.    1200,      ,  ^  J.     ,     ,         .  ,  !. 

the   einpress  died,  leavmg  the   regency  oi 

the  kingdom  to  the  pope:  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  pre* 

scribe  what  conditions  he  thought  proper  to  young  Frei 

dericio. 

The  troubles  of  Germany  still  continued;  and  the 
pope  redoubled  his  efforts  to  detach  the  princes  and  pre-, 
lates  from  the  cause  of  Philip,  king  of  the  Romans,  not- 
withstanding the  remonstrances  of  the  king  of  France, 
To  these  remonstrances  he  proudly  replied,  "  Either 
"  Philip  must  lose  the  empire,  or  I  the   papacy"," 

But  all  these  dissensions  and  troubles  in  Europe  did 
not  prevent  the  formation  of  another  crusade  or  expedi- 
tion into  Asia,  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  The 
adventurers  who  took  the  cross,  were  chiefly  French  and 
GeVmans,  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  was  their  com- 
mander; and  the  Venetians,  as  greedy  of  wealth  and 
power  as  the  ancient  Carthaginians,  furnished  them  with 
ships,  for  which  they  took  care  to  be  amply  paid,  both  in 
^loney  and  territory.      The    Christian  city  of  Zara,  iu 

?0.  Murat.     Antiq.  hal.  torn.  vi.       11.  G«<.  Innocent  III. 

Dalmatja, 


fcET.  XXXI. 3        MODERN    EUROPE.  347 

Dalmatia,  had  withdrawn  itself  from  the  government  of 
the  republic :  the  army  of  the  Cross  undertook  to  reduce 

it  to  obedience:  and  it  was  besiec:ed  and  taken,  nr.^-, 

.  ,  ,-  u       1  7  .    A.  D.  1203i 

notwithstandmg  the  threats  and  excommuni- 
cations of  the  pope'-.      Nothing  can  shew  in  a  stronger 
light  the  reigning  spirit  of  those  pious  adventurers. 

The  storm  next  broke  upon  Constantinople.  Isaac 
Angelas,  the  Greek  emperor,  had  been  dethroned,  and 
deprived  of  his  sight,  in  1195,  by  his  brother  Alexisi 
Isaac's  son,  named  also  Alexis,  who  had  made  his  escape 
into  Germany,  and  was  then  in  the  army  of  the  crusade, 
implored  the  assistance  of  its  leaders  against  the  usurper; 
engaging,  in  case  of  success,  to  furnish  them  provisions, 
to  pay  them  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  to  submit  him- 
self to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pope.  By  their  means  the 
lawful  prince  was  restored.  He  ratified  the  treaty  made 
by  his  son,  and  died;  when  young  Alexis,  who  was  hated 
by  the  Greeks  for  having  called  in  the  Latins,  became  the 
victim  of  a  new  faction.  One  of  his  relations,  surnamed 
Murtzufle,  strangled  him  with  his  own  hands,  and  usurp- 
ed the  imperial  throne". 

Baldwin  and  his  followers,  who  wanted  only  an  apo- 
logy for  their  intended  violence,  had  now  a  good  one; 
and  under  pretence  of  revenging  the  death  of  Alexis, 

made  themselves  masters  of  Constantinople.  ^r.^^ 

^,  J  •       •  ,    ,•    ,  .       *^        A.  D.  1204. 

Ihey  entered  it  v/iih  httle  or  no  resistance; 

put  every  one  who  opposed  them  to  the  sword,  and  gave 
themselves  up  to  all  the  excesses  of  avarice  and  fury. 
The  booty  of  the  French  lords  alone  was  valued  at  four 
hundred  thousand  marks  of  silver:  the  very  churches 
were  pillaged!  And  what  strongly  marks  the  character 
of  that  giddy  nation,  which  has  been  at  all  times  nearly 
the  same,  we  are  told  by  Nicetas,  that  the  French  offi- 
cers danced  with  the  ladies  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  church 
of  St.  Sophia,  after  having  robbed  the  altar,  and  drench- 
ed the  city  in  blood  ''. 

13,  Maimbourg,  Hkt.  des  Croitadcs.     13.  Nicetas,  Cbron.     14.  Id.  ibid. 

Thus 


348  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  jc. 

Thus  was  Constantinople,  the  most  flourishing;  Chris- 
tain  city  in  the  world,  taken  for  the  first  time,  and  sacked 
by  Christians,  who  had  vowed  to  fight  only  against 
infidels! — Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  the  most  power- 
ful of  these  ravagers,  got  himself  elected  emperor;  and 
this  new  usurper  condemned  the  other  usurper,  Murt- 
zufle,  to  be  thrown  headlong  from  the  top  of  a  lofty 
column.  The  Venetians  had  for  their  share  Pelopon- 
nesus, the  island  of  Canclia,  and  several  cities  on  the 
coast  of  Fhrvgia,  which  had  not  yet  submitted  to  the 
Turkish  vokc.  The  marquis  de  Monferrat  seized  oa 
Thessaly:  so  that  Baldwin  had  little  left  except  Thrace 
and  Mesia.  The  pope  gained,  for  a  time,  the  whole 
eastern  church;  and,  in  a  word,  an  acquisition  was  made. 
of  much  gretitcr  consequence  than  Palestine.  Of  this 
indeed  the  conquerors  seemed  fully  convinced;  for  not- 
withstanding the  vow  they  had  taken,  to  go  and  succour 
Jerusalem,  only  a  very  inconsiderable  number  of  the 
many  knights  who  had  engaged  in  this  pious  enterprize^ 
went  into  Syria,  and  those  were  such  as  could  get  nc^ 
share  in  the  spoils  of  the  Greeks". 

Innocent  III.  speaking  of  this  conquest,  savs,  in  one 
of  his  letters,  "^  God,  willing  to  console  his  church  by 
"  the  re-union  of  the.  schismatics,  has  made  the  empire 
"  pass  from  the  proud,  superstitious,  disobedient 
*'  Greeks,  to  the  humble,  pious,  catholic,  and  sub- 
*'  missive  Latins."  So  easy  is  it  by  words,  to  give 
that  complexion  to  persons  and  things,  which  most  fa- 
vours our  interests  and  our  prejudices! 

I  sliould  now,  my  deivr  Philip,  return  to  the  affairs 
of  Germanv;  but  a  {c\v  more  particulars,  consequent  on- 
the  taking  of  Constantinople,  require  first  to  be  notedy 
as  they  cannot  afterward  be  brought  properly  imder 
review. 

There  still  remained  a  number  of  princes  of  the 
imperial  house  of  Comnenus,  who  did  hot  lose  their 
courage  with  the  destruction  of  their  empire.      One  of 

15.  Kieetas.  Ciintacuzenus. 

those^ 


LET.  XXXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  U9 

those,  who  bore  among  others  the  name  of  Alexis,  took 
refuge  on  the  coast  of  Colchis;  and  there,  between  the 
sea  and  mount  Caucasus,  erected  a  petty  state  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  the  Empire  of  Trebisond;  so  much 
was  the  word  empire  abused! — Theodore  Lascarus  re- 
took Nice,  and  settled  himself  in  Bythiniat,  by  oppor- 
tunely making  use  of  the  Arabs  against  the  Turks.  He 
also  assumed  the  title  of  emperor,  and  caused  a  patriarch 
to  be  elected  of  his  own  communion.  Other  Greeks 
entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Turks,  and  even  called 
in  their  ancient  enemies,  the  Bulgarians,  to  assist  them 
against  the  emperor  Baldwin:  who,  being  overcome  by 

those  barbarians   near   Adrianople,  had  his 

1  ,  A-         .  1   r  -'^'  D-  1206. 

legs  and  arms  cut  oft,  and  was  lelt  a  prey  to 

wild  beasts  .  Henry,  his  brother  and  successor,  was 
poisoned  in  1216;  and  within  half  a  century,  the  imperial 
city,  which  had  gone  to  ruin  under  the  Latins  retvu-ned 
once  more  to  the  Greeks. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  the  East, 
Philip  and  Otho  were  desolating  the  West.  At  length 
Philip  prevailed;  and  Otho,  obliged  to  abandon  Ger- 
m.any,  took  refuge  in  England.  Philip,  elated  with 
success,  got  his  election  confirmed  by  a  second  corona- 
tion, and  proposed  an  accomm.odation  with  the  pope,  as 
the  means  of  finally  establishing  his  throne.  But  be- 
fore that   accommodation   could  be  brought  about,  he 

fell  a  sacrifice  to  private  revencce;  beincr 

.  A.    u.    1208. 

assassinated  by  the  count  Palatine  of  Ba- 
varia, in  consequence  of  a  private  dispute'^. 

Otho  returned  to  Germany  on  the  death  of  Philip, 
married  that  prince's  daughter,   and  was 

J      .   D  1        T  .    TTT         f.        A.     D.     1209. 

crowned  at  Rome  by  Innocent   111.   after 
yielding  to  the  holy  see  the  long  disputed   inheritance 
of  the  countess  Matilda,  and  confirming  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  Italian  cities. 


16.  Ibiii,  17.  Neiss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xv. 

But 


350  THE  HISTORY  OF  (part  u 

But  thesei  concessions,  as  far  at  least  as  they  re- 
garded the  pope,  were  only  a  sacrifice  to  present  policy* 
Otho  therefore  no  sooner  found  himself  in  a  condition 
to  act  offensively,  than  he  resumed  his  grant;  and  not 
only  recovered  the  possessions  of  the  empire,  but  made 
.,  hostile  incursions  into  Apulia,  ravaging  the 
dominions  of  young  Frederic,  king  of 
Naples  and  Sicily:  who  was  under  the  protection  of  the 
holy  see.      Hence  we  may  date  the  ruin  of  Otho»      In- 

.„.  .    nocent  excommunicated  him:  and  Frederic, 

A. D. 1211.  __  -  ,  ,  * 

now  niteen  years  oi   age,  was  elected  empe* 

ror,  by  diet  of  the  German  princes''^. 

Otho  however,  on  his  return  to  Germany,  finding  his 

party  still  considerable  and  not  doubting  but  he  should 

be  able  to  humble  his  rival,  by  means  of  his 

A.  D.  1^13.  .         -  .  .  . 

superior  lorce,  entered  into  an  alliance  with 
his  uncle,  John  king  of  England,  against  Philip   Augus- 
tus king  of  France.    The  unfortunate  battle  of  Bouvines, 
.^.,    where  the  confederates  were  defeated  as  we 

A.  Dk  1214. 

*  have  seen,  completed  the  fate  of  Otho.  He 
attempted  to  retreat  into  Germany,  but  was  prevented 
by  young  Frederic;  who  had  marched  into  the  empire 
at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  and  was  every  where 
received  with  open  arms. 

Thus  abandoned  by  all  the  princes  of  Germany^ 
and  altogether  without  resource,  Otho  retired  to  Brun* 
swick,  where  he  lived  four  years  as  a  private  man, 
dedicating  his  time  to  the  duties  of  religion.  He  was 
not  deposed,  but  forgot;  and  if  it  is  true  that,  in  the 
excess  of  his  humility,  he  ordered  himself  to  be  thrown 
down,  and  trod  upon  by  his  kitchen-boys,  we  may  well 
say  with  Voltaire,  that  the  kicks  of  a  turn-spit  can  never 
expiate  the  faults  of  a  prince'^. 

Frederic  II.    being   now  universally  acknowledged 

emperor,   was   crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
A.  D. 1215.      .  ,  ^  . p  ,     .  ,       ^ 

with   great  magnificence:   and,   in  order  to 

preserve  the  favour  of  the  pope,  he  added  to  the  other 
18.  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvi.  19.  Amal.  de  I'Emfi.  torn.  ii. 

solemnities 


LET.  XXXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  .151 

solemnities  of  his  coronation,  a  vow  to  go  in  person  to 
the  Holy  Land"". 

About  this  time  pope  Innocent  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Honorius  III.  who  expressed  great 
eagerness  in  forwarding  the  crusade,  which 
he  ordered  to  be  preached  up  through  all  the  provinces 
of  Germany,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Bohemia,  and  Hun- 
gary: and  his  endeavours  were  crowned  with  extraor- 
dinary success.  The  emperor  indeed  excused  himself 
from  the  performance  of  his  vow,  until  he  should  have 
regulated  the  affairs  of  Italy;  and  almost  all  the  other 
European  monarchs  were  detained  at  home  by  domestic 
disturbances.  But  an  infinite  number  of  private  noble- 
men and  their  vassals  took  the  cross,  under  the  dukes 
of  Austria  and  Bavaria,  the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  and 
the  bishops  of  Munster  and  Utrecht;  and  Andrew,  king 
of  Hungary,  who  brought  with  him  a  body  of  fine  troops, 
was  declared  generalissimo  of  the  crusade^'. 

While  these  adventurers  of  Upper  Germany  march- 
ed towards    Italy,    in    order   to   embark    at  ^^.^ 

A.  D.  1217 
Venice,  Genoa  and  Messina,  a  fleet  of  three 

hundred  sail  was  equipped  in  the  ports  of  Lower  Saxony, 
to  transport  the  troops  of  Westphalia,  Saxony,  and  the 
territory  of  Cologne.  And  those  joining  the  squadron 
of  the  Frieslanders,  Flemings,  and  subjects  of  Brabant, 
commanded  by  William  count  of  Holland,  George  count 
of  Weerden,  and  Adolphus  count  of  Berg,  set  sail  for 
the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  on  their  voyage  to  Ptolemais. 
But  being  driven  by  a  tempest  into  the  road  of  Lisbon, 
they  were  prevailed  upon  to  assist  Alphonso,  king  of 
Portugal,  against  the  Moors.  They  defeated  these 
infidels,  and  afterwards  took  from  them  the  city  of 
Alcazar"^ 

Meanwhile  the  king  of  Hungary  and  his  army,  having 
joined  the  king  of  Cyprus,  landed  at  Ptolemais;  where 
he  was  joyfully  received  by  John  de  Brieune,  a  younger 

20.  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvii  21.  A*uifi/.  Padcrhorri. 

22.  Ibid. 

brother 


an  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

brother  of  the  family  of  that  name  in  Champagne,  Avho 
had  been  nominated  king  of  Jerusalem.  After  refresh- 
ing and  reviewing  their  forces,  the  two  kings  marched 
into  the  great  valley  of  Jesrael,  against  the  Saracens, 
with  the  wood  of  the  true  cross  carried  before  them. 
But  Coradin,  son  of  Saphadin,  soldan  of  Kgypt  and 
Babylon,  and  nephew  to  the  famous  Saladin,  finding  him- 
self greatly  outnumbered  by  the  Christians,  retired  with- 
out giving  battle;  and  the  champions  of  the  Cross  under- 
took the  siege  of  lliabor,  in  which  they  miscarried. 
They  now  separated  themselves  into  four  bodies,  for  the 
.  conveniency  of  subsisting.  The  king  of 
Cyprus  died,  and  the  king  of  Hungary 
returned  to  his  own  dominions,  in  order  to  quiet  some 
disturbances  which  had  arisen  during  his  absence"-. 

The  fleet  from  the  coast  of  Spain  arrived  at  Ptole- 
mais,  soon  after  the  departure  of  the  king  of  Hungary; 
and  it  was  resolved  in  a  council  of  war  to  besiege  Dami- 
etta  in  Egypt,  which  was  accordingly  invested  by  sea 
^^  and  land,  and  taken  after  a  siege  of  eighteen 
months.  During  the  siege  Saphadin  died;  and 
his  eldest  son  Meledin,  his  successor  in  the  kingdom  of 
Eg3'pt,  who  came  to  the  relief  of  the  besieged,  was  de- 
feated. The  duke  of  Austria,  with  a  large  body  of 
troops,  returned  soon  after  to  Germany;  and  a  reinforce- 
ment arrived  from  the  emperor,  under  the  conduct  of 
cardinal  Albano,  legate  of  the  Holy  See24. 

This  cardinal,  who  was  a  Spanish  benedictine,  pre- 
tended that  he,  as  representative  of  the  pope,  the  natural 
head  of  the  crusade,  had  an  incontestable  right  to  be 
general ;  and  that,  as  the  king  of  Jerusalem  held  his  crown 
only  by  virtue  of  the  pope's  licence,  he  ought  in  all  things 
to  pay  obedience  to  the  legate  of  his  holiness.  Much 
time  was  spent  in  that  dispute,  and  in  writing  to  Rome 
for  advice.  At  length  the  pope's  answer  came,  by  which 
he  ordered  the   king  of  Jerusalem   to   serve  under  the 

23.  Jac.  de   Vitri.  Mainibourg,    uhi  supra.         24.  Vertot,   Bist.  de 
Chei!~  de  Malth.  torn.  i.     Mainibourg;,   Bht.  des  CroUades.  torn.   ii. 

benedictine: 


LET.  XXXI.]        MODERN    EUROPE.  353 

benedictine:  and  his  orders  were  punctually  obeyed, 
John  de  Brienne  resigned  the  command,  and  this  mon- 
kish general  brought  the  army  of  the  Cross  between  two 
branches  of  the  Nile,  just  at  the  time  that  river,  which 
fertilizes  and  defends  Egypt,  began  to  overflow  its  banks. 
The  soldan,  informed  of  the  situation  of  his  enemies, 
flooded  the  Christian  camp,  by  opening  the  sluices;  and 
while  he  burnt  their  ships  on  one  side,  the  Nile,  increas- 
ing on  the  other,  threatened  every  hour  to  sw.iilow  up 
their  whole  army.  The  legate  therefore  now  sav/  himself 
and  his  troops  in  a  similar  extremity  to  that  in  which  the 
Egyptians  unjder  Pharaoh  are  described,  when  they  beheld 
the  sea  ready  to  rush  in  upon  them.  In  consequence  of 
this  pressing  danger,  Damietta  was  restored;  loo-r 

and  the  leaders   of  the  crusade  v/ere  obliged 
to  conclude  a  dishonourable  treaty,  by  which  they  bound 
themselves    not   to    serve    against    Meledin,    soldan   of 
Egypt,  for  eight  years^^'. 

The  Christians  of  the  East  had  now  no  hopes  left  but 
in  the  emperor  Frederic  II.  who  was  about  this  time 
crowned  at  Rome  by  pope  Honorius  III.  whose  friend- 
ship he  had  purchased,  by  promising  to  detach  Naples 
and  Sicily  from  the  empire,,  and  bestow  it  on  his  son 
Henry,  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See.  He  also 
promised  to  pass  into  Asia  with  an  army,  at  any  time  the 
pope  should  appoint.  But  this  promise:  Frederic  was 
very  little  inclined  to  perform,  and  therefore  found  a 
thousand  pretences  for  delaying  his  journey.  He  was 
indeed  more  worthily  employed;  embellishing  and  ag^ 
grandizing  Naples;  in  establishing  an  university  in  that 
city,  where  the  Roman  law  was  taught;  and  in  expelling 
the  vagrant  Saracens,   who  still  infested  Sicily-*^. 

In  the  mean  time  the  unfortunate  leaders  of  the  crusade 
arrived  in  Europe  :  and  the  pope,  incensed  at  the 'loss  of 
Damietta,  wrote  a  severe  letter  to  the  emperor,  taxing 
him  with  having  sacrificed   th®  interests  of  loo^ 

Christianity,  by  delaying  so  long  the  perfor- 

25.  Id.  ibid.  i.  2S.  Sigon.  Reg-  Ital.    Giaiiinpne,  Hist,  di  Napol. 

VOL,  I.  3  o  mane© 


3J4  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

mance  of  his  vow,  and  threatening  hJm  with  immediate  ex- 
communication, if  he  did  not  instantly  depart  with  an  ar- 
my into  Asia.  Frederic  exasperated  at  these  reproaches, 
renounced  all  correspondence  with  the  court  of  Rome  : 
renewed  his  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  Sicily  ;  filled  up 

vacant    sees    and    benefices,    and    expelled 
A.  D.    1226.  . 

some  bishops,  who  were   creatures  of  the 

pope,  on  jireterice   of  their  being  concerned  in  practices 

against  the  state'^ 

Honorius  at  first  attempted  to  combat  rigour,  with 
rigour,  threatening  the  emperor  with  the  thunder  of  the 
church,  for  presuming  to  lift  up  his  hand  against  the  sanc- 
tuary; but  finding  Fpedtric  not  to  be  intimidated,  his  holi- 
ness became  sensible  of  his  own  imprudence,  in  wantonly 
incurring  the  resentment  of  so  powerful  a  prince,  and 
thought  proper  to  soothe  his  temper  by  subriii-ive  apolo- 
gies and  gentle  exhortations.  The  emperor  and  the  pope 
were  accordingly  reconciled,  and  conferred  together  at 
Veroli;  where  the  emperor,  as  a  proof  of  his  sincere  at- 
tachment to  the  church,  published  some  very  severe  edicts 
against  heresy,  which  seem  to  have  authorised  the  tribu- 
nal of  the  Inquisitica--. 

A  solemn  assembly  was  afterwards  held  at  Ferenti- 
no,  where  both  the  pope  and  the  emperor  were  present, 
together  with  John  de  Brienne,  titular  king  of  Jerusalem, 
who  was  come  into  Europe  to  demand  succours  against 
the  soldan  of  Egypt.  John  had  an  only  daughter  named 
Yolanda,  whom  he  proposed  as  a  wife  to  the  emperor, 
with  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  as  her  dower,  on  condi- 
tion that  Frederic  should,  within  two  years,  perform  the 
vow  he  had  made  to  lead  an  army  into  the  holy  land, 
Frederic  married  her  on  these  terms,  becajuse  he  chose 
to  please  the  pope  ;  and  since  that  time  the  kings  of  Si- 
cily have  taken  the  title  of  king  of  Jerusalem. 


27.  Id.  ibid.        28.  Petr.  de  Vignes,  lib.  i. 

But 


XET.  XXXI.]         MODERN  EUROPE.  353 

Bat  the  emperor  was  in  no  hurry  to  go  and  conquer 
his  wife's  portion,  having  busitiess  of  more  importance 
on  his  hands  at  hom-e.  The  chief  cities  of  Lombardy 
had  entered  into  a  secret  league,  with  a  view  to  throw  off 

his  authority.     He  convoked  a  diet  at  Cre-  .„   „ 

A.  D.  122/0 
mona,  where  all  the  German  and  Italian  noble- 
men were  summoned  to  attend.  A  variety  of  subjects 
were  there  discussed,  but  nothing  of  consequence  was 
settled.  An  accommodation,  however,  was  soon  aftejr 
brought  about,  by  the  mediation  of  the  pope  ;  who,  as 
umpire  of  the  dispute,  decreed,  that  the  emperor  should 
lay  aside  his  resentment  against  the  confederate  towns, 
and  that  the  towns  should  furnish  and  maintain  four  hun- 
dred knights  for  the  relief  of  the  Holy  Land'^, 

Peace  being  thus  concluded,  Honorius  reminded  the 
emperor  of  his  vow:  Frederic  promised  compliance  ;  but 
his  holiness  died  before  he  could  r.ee  the  execution  of  -^ 
project  which  he  seemed  to  have  so  much  at  heart.  He 
was  succeeded  in  the  papal  chair  by  Gregory  IX.  brother 
of  Innocent  III.  who,  pursuing  the  same  line  of  policy^ 
urged  the  departure  of  Frederic  for  the  Holy  I^and:  and 
finding  the  emperor  still  backward,  declared  him  incapa- 
ble of  holding  the  imperial  dignity,  as  having  incurred 
the  sentence  of  excommunication.  Frederic,  incensed 
.at  such  insolence,  ravaged  the   patrimony  of  St.  Peter, 

and  was   actually  excoinmunicated.      The 

•      1  1^11  1  /-i  -1    1     -^-    "•    1228. 

animosity  between  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibei- 

lines  revived  ;  the  pope  was  obliged  to  quit  Rome,  and 
Italy  became  a  scene  of  war  and  desolation  :  or  rather  of 
an  hundred  civil  wars,  which,  by  inflaming  the  minds,  and 
exciting  the  resentment  of  the  Italian  princes,  accustom- 
ed them  but  too  m.uch  to  the  horrid  practices  of  poison- 
i,ng  and  assassination. 

During  these  transactions,  Frederic  11.  in  order  to 
remove  the  cause  of  so  mauv  troubles  and  to  gratify  the 
prejudices   of  a    superstitious  age,  jesolved  tp  perform 

29.  Richard,  Chion.  ap.  MLirat, 

his 


,856  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

his  vow.  He  accordingly  embarked  for  the  Holy  Land, 
leaving  the  affairs  of  Italy  to  the  management  of  Renaldo, 
duke  of  Spoleto.  The  duke  prohibited  his  departure,  be- 
fore he  was  absolved  from  the  censures  of  the  church.  But 
Frederic  went  in  contempt  of  the  church,  and  succeeded 
better  than  any  commander  who  had  gone  before  him. 
He  did  not  indeed  desolate  Asia,  and  gratify  the  bar- 
barous zeal  of  the  times,  by  spilling  the  blood  of  infidels ; 
but  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  Meledin,  soldan  of  Egypt 
and  master  of  Syria,  by  which  the  end  of  his  expedition 

^    seemed  fully  answered.      The  soldan  ceded 
A.  D.  1229.  . 

to  him  Jerusalem,  and  its  territory  as  far  as 

Joppa;  Bethlehem,  Nazarath,  and  all  the  country  between 

Terusalem  and  Ptolemais;      Tyre,  Sidon,  and 
A.D.  1230.  '',  ...         .  .     '.        \  '  ' 

the  neighbourmg  territories.     In   return   tor 

these  concessions,  the  emperor  granted  the  Saracens  a  truce 
of  ten  years,  and  prudently  returned  to  Italy,  where  his 
presence  was  much  wanted^". 

Frederic's  reign,  after  his  return  from  the  east,  was 
one   continued  quarrel  with  the   popes.      The  cities   of 
Lombardy  had  revolted  during  his  absence,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Gregory  IX.  and  before  they  could  be  reduced, 
the   same  pontiff  excited  the  emperor's  son 
Henry,  who   had  been    elected  king  of  the 
Romans,  to  rebel  against  his  father.     The  rebellion  was 
suppressed,  the  prince  was  confined,  and  the  emperor  ob- 
tained a  complete  victory  over  the  associated  towns;  but 
his  troubles  were  not  yet  ended.     The  pope  excommu- 
nicated him  anew;  and  sent  a  bull  into  Germany,  in  order 
to  sow  division  between  Frederic  and  the  prin- 
°  ces  of  the  empire,  in  which  are  the  following 
remarkable   words.      '*  A    beast   of  blasphemy,   replete 
*'  with  names,  is  risen  from  the   sea,    with  the  feet  of  a 
*'  bear,  the  face  of  a  lion,  and  members  of  other  different 

30.   Annal.  Bo/or.    lib.    vii.  Heiss.  Hist,   de  I'Emp,  lib.  ii.    cap.  xvii, 
Maimbourg,  ubi  sup. 

*^  animals 


iEt.  XXXI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  357 

"  animals  ;  which,  like  the  proud,  hath  opened  its  mouth 
''  in  blasphemy  against  the  holy  name  ;  not  even  fearing 
*'  to  throw  the  arrows  of  calumny  against  the  tabernacle 
*'  of  God,  and  the  saints  that  dwell  in  heaven.  This  beast, 
*'  desirous  of  breaking  every  thing  in  pieces  by  his  iron 
"  teeth  and  nails,  and  of  trampling  all  things  under  his  feet, 
"  hath  already  prepared  private  battering  rams  against 
^'  the  wall  of  the  catholic  faith  ;  and  now  raises  open  ma- 
*'  chines,  in  erecting  soul-destroying  schools  of  Ishmael- 
■*'  ites;  rising,  according  to  report,  in  opposition  to 
*'  Christ  the  Redeemer  of  mankind,  the  table  of  whose 
"  covenant  he  atteraps  to  abolish  with  the  pen  of  wicked 
•*'  heresy.  Be  not  therefore  surprised  at  the  malice  of  this 
^'  blasphemous  beast:  if  we,  who  are  the  servant  of  the  Al- 
*'  mighty,  should  be  exposed  to  the  arrows  of  his  destruo 
*'  tion. — This  king  of  plagues  was  even  heard  to  say, 
"  that  the  whole  world  has  been  deceived  by  three 
'^'  impostors:  namely,  Moses,  Jesus  Christ,  and  Mahom- 
''  et.  Bat  he  makes  Jesus  Christ  far  inferior  to  the  other 
*'  two:  '  They,'  says  he,  '  supported  their  glory  to  the  last, 
*  v/hereas  Christ  was  ignominiously  crucified.'  "  He  also 
^'  maintains,"  continues  Gregory,  "thatit  is  follytohelieve 
*'  the  ONE  only  God,  Creator  of  the  Universe,  could  he 
"  born  of  VLivoman^  zwd  more  especially  of  a  virgin?' S'' 

Frederic,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  apology  to  the 
Princes  of  Germany,  calls  Gregory  the  Great  Dragon^  the 
Antichrist^  of  whom  it  is  writen,  "  and  another  Red  Horse 
"  arose  from  the  sea,  and  he  that  sat  upon  him  took 
*'  Peace  from  the  Earths^." 

The  emperor's  apology  was  sustained  in  (iermany  ; 
and  finding  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from  that  quarter,  he 
resolved  to  take  ample  vengeance  of  the  pope  and  his  as- 
sociates. With  that  view  he  marched  to 
Rome,  where  he  thought  his  pinty  was  strong  '  '  *  ""^  ' 
enough  to  procure  him  admission.  But  this  favourite 
scheme   v/as  defeated  by  the  activity  of  Gregorv,   wh.o 

31.  Gob.  Pers.  Cosmo:!,  cap.   l.\iv.  .,'^;?.  Id.  ibid 

ordered 


35S  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

ordered  a  crusade  to  be  preached  against  the  emperor, 
as  an  enemy  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  a  step  which  in- 
censed Frederic  so  much,  that  he  ordered  all  his  pri- 
soners, who  wore  the  cross,  to  be  exposed  to  the  most 
cruel  torture  s^^ 

The  two  factions  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines 
continued  to  rage  with  greater  violerce  than  ever  ;  in- 
volving cities,  districts,  and  even  private  families,  in 
troubles,  divisions,  and  civil  butchery,  no  quarter  being 
given   on   either   side.     Pt'Ieanwhile   Gregory   IX.   died, 

,    ,       and  was   succeeded   in  the  see  of  Rome   by 
A.  D.  124-3. 

Celestine  IV.  and  afterwards  by  Innocent  IV. 

formerly  Cardinal  Fiesque,  and  who  had  always  expres- 
sed the  greatest  regard  for  the  emperor  and  his  interest. 
Frederic  was  accordingly  congratulated  upon  this  occa- 
sion ;  but  having  more  penetration  than  those  about 
him,  he  sagely  replied,  "  I  see  little  reason  to  rejoice. 
"  The  cardinal  was  my  friend,  but  the  pope  will  be  my 
*'  encmy^*." 

Innocent  soon  proverl  the  justice  of  this  conjecture. 
He  ambitiously  attempted  to  negociate  a  peace  for  Italy. 
But  not  being  able  to  obtain  from  Frederic  his  exorbi- 
tant demands,  and  in  fear  of  the  safety  of  his  own  person, 

he    fled    into    France,    assembled    a    creneral 
A.D.  1245.  -IT  11  wi 

council  at  Lyons,  and  deposed  the  emperor. 

"  I  declare,"  said  he,    "  Frederic  II.   attainted  and  con- 

"  victed  of  sacrilege   and  heresy,   excommunicated  and 

"  dethroned  ;   and  I  order  the  electors  to  choose  another 

"  emperor,  reserving  to  myself  the  disposal  of  the  king- 

'"  dom  of  Sicily  -'." 

Frederic  was  at  Turin  when  he  received  the  news 

of  his  deposition,  and  behaved  in  a  manner  that  seemed 

to  border  upon  weakness.      He  called  for  the   casket  in 

which  the  imperial  ornaments  were  kept;  and  opening  it, 

33.  Krantz.  lib.  viii.  Murat.  Annul.  ltd.  torn.  vii. 
Zi.  Id.  ibid.  35.  Gob.  Pers.  ubi  snp. 

an4 


LET.  XXXI.]       MODERN   EUROPE.  559 

and  taking  the  crown  in  his  hand,  "  Innocent,"  cried  he, 
*'  has  not  Vet  deprived  me  of  thee  :  thou  art  still  mine! 
"  and  before   I  part   with  thee,    much   blood   shall   be 

*'    Spilt3^" 

Conrad,  the  emperor's  second  son,  had  been  de- 
clared king  of  the  Romans,  on  the  death  of  his  brother 
Henry,  which  soon  followed  his  confinement;  but  the 
empire  being  now  declared  vacant  by  the  po'^^e,  the  Ger- 
man bishops   (for  none  of  the   princes  Avere 

.      ^     0     .       .       .  r  t-      ■,    ,■  A.  D.  1246. 

present;   at  the  mstigation   oi  his    hohness, 

proceeded  to  the  election  of  a  new  emperor.  And  they 
chose  Henry,  landgrave  of  Thuringia,  who  was  styled, 
in  derision,  "  The  King  of  priests." 

Innocent  now  renev/ed  the  crusade  against  Frederic. 
It  was  proclaimed  by  the  preaching  friars,  since  called 
Dominicans,  and  the  minor  friars,  known  by  the  name 
of  Cordeliers  or  Francis,cans;  a  new  militia  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  whicli,  about  this  time,  began  to  be  established 
in  Europe.  The  pope,  however,  did  not  confine  himself 
to  these  measures  only,  but  engaged  in  conspiracies 
against  the  life  of  an  emperor  who  had  dared  to  resist 
the  decree  of  a  council,  and  oppose  the  whole  body  of 
monks  and  zealots.  Frederic's  life  was  several  times 
in  danger  from  plots,  poisonings,  and  assassinations;- 
which  induced  him,  it  is  said,  to  make  choice  of  Maho- 
metan guards,  v/hom  he  was  certain  would  not  be  under 
the  influence  of  the  prevailing  superstition. 

Meiuiwhile  the  landgrave  of  Thuringia  dying,   the 

same  prelates  who  had  taken  the  liberty  of 

.  A,  D.  1247, 

creating  oue  emperor,  made  another;  namely, 

William  count  of  Holland,  a  young  nobleman  of  twenty 

years   of  age,  who  bore   the  same  contemptuous  title  as 

his  predecessor"^ 

Fortune,    whii.h   had   hitherto   favoured    Frederic, 

seemed  now  to  desert  him.      He  was  defeat- 

A.  D.  1243. 
ed  before  Parma,  which  he  bad  long  besieg- 


35.  M.  Paris.  Hist.  Major.  57-  Jilnai  £ul6r. 

ed; 


360  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

ed ;  and  to  complete  his  misfortune,  he  soon  after 
learned,  that  his  natural  son  Entius,  whom  he  had  made 
king  of  Sardinia,  was  worsted  and  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Bolognese. 

In  this  extremity,  Frederic  retired  to  his  kingdom 
of  Naples,  in  order  to  recruit  his  army,  and 
there  died  of  a  fever,  in  the  fifty-firth  year  of 
his  age^'^.  He  was  a  prince  of  great  gei>ius,  erudition, 
and  fortitude  ;  and  notwithstanding  all  the  troubles  he 
had  to  encounter,  he  built  towns,  founded  universities, 
and  gave  a  kind  of  new  life  to  learning  in  Italy. 

After  the  death  of  Frederic  11.  the  affairs  of  Ger- 
many fell  into  the  utmost  confusion,  and  Italy  continued 
long  in  the  same  distracted  state  in  which  he  had  left 
it.  The  clergy  took  arms  against  the  laity,  the  weak 
were  oppressed  by  the  strong,  and  laws  divine  and  human 
were  disregarded.  But  a  particular  history  of  that  un- 
happy period  would  fill  the  mind  with  disgust  and  horror: 
I  shall  therefore  only  observe,  that  after  the  death  of 
Frederic's  son,  Conrad,  who  had  assumed  the  imperial 
^^-^     dignity,  as  successor  to  his  father,  and  the 

A.    D     12jO  cj        ^  '  ^  7 

death  of  his  competitor,  William  of  Hol- 
land, a  variety  of  candidates  appeared  for  the  empire, 
and  several  were  elected  by  diflferent  factions,  aiiiong 
whom  was  Richard  earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  to  Henry 
III.  king  of  England.  But  no  emperor  was  properly 
acknowledged,  till  the  year  1273,  when  Rodolph,  count 
of  Hapsburg,  was  unanimously  raised  to  the  vacant 
throne. 

During  the  interregnum  which  preceded  the  election 
of  Rodolph,  Denmark,  Holland,  and  Hungary  entirely- 
freed  themselves  from  the  homage  they  were  wont  to 
pay  to  the  empire;  and  nearly  about  the  same  time 
several  German  cities  erected  a  municipal  form  of  go- 
vernment,    Avhich    still    continues.        Lubec,    Cologne, 


39.  Krantz,  lib.  viii.     Keiss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvii. 

Brunswick^ 


LET.  XXXII.]      MODERN  EUROPE.  361 

Brunswick,  and  Dantzic,  united  for  their  mutual  defence 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  great  lords,  by  a  famous 
association,  called  the  Hanseatic  League;  and  these 
towns  were  afterwards  joined  by  eighty  others,  belong- 
ing to  different  states,  which  formed  a  kind  of  commer- 
cial republic.  Italy  also  during  this  period  assumed  a 
new  form  of  government.  That  freedom  for  which  the 
cities  of  Lombardy  had  so  long  struggled,  was  confirmed 
to  them  for  a  sum  of  money  :  they  were  emancipated  by 
the  fruits  of  their  industry.  Sicily  likewise  changed  'i\M 
government  and  its  prince,  as  shall  be  related  in  the  his- 
tory of  France,  which  furnished  a  sovereign  to  the  Sici- 
lians. 

I  next  propose  to  carry  forward  the  aff^airs  of  Eng- 
land to  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  a  period  at  which  the 
history  of  our  own  island  becomes  peculiarly  interesting 
to  every  Briton. 


LETTER  XXXIL 

ENGLAND,   FROM    THE  GRANTING  OF  THE  GREAT  CHARTER,    TP 
THE    REIG>f   OF   EDWARD   I. 

X  OU  have  already  seen,  my  dear  Philip,  in  what 
manner  king  John  was  forced  by  his  barons  to  grant  the 
great  charter  of  English  liberty,  and  the  regulations  ne- 
cessary for  preserving  it,  to  which  he  seemed 
passively  to  submit.      He  went  still  farther  :     *    * 
he  dismissed  his  forces,  and  promised  that  his  govern- 
ment should  be  as  gentle  as  his  people  could  wish  it.  But. 
he  only  dissembled,  till  he  should  find  a  favourable  op- 
portunity to  revoke  all  his  concessions;   and  in  order  to 
facilitate  such  an  event,  he  secretly  sent  abroad  emis- 
saries to  enlist  foreign  soldiers,  and  to  invite  the  rapaci- 
VOL.  I.  3  £  ous 


362  THE   HISTORY  OF  [pakt  i, 

ous  Brabancons  into  his  service,  by  the  prospect  of  sharing 
the  spoils  of  England.  He  also  dispatched  a  messenger 
to  Rome,  to  lay  the  Great  Charter  before  the  pope ;  who, 
considering  himself  as  superior  lord  of  the  kingdom,  was 
incensed  at  the  temerity  of  the  barons,  and  issued  a  bull 
annulling  the  charter,  absolving  the  king  from  his  oath  to 
observe  it,  and  denouncing  a  general  sentence  of  excom- 
munication against  every  one  who  should  persevere  in 
maintaining  such  treasonable  pretensions'. 

John  now  pulled  off  the  mask  :  he  recalled  all  that  lie 
had  done;  and  as  his  foreign  mercenaries  arrived  along 
with  the  bull,  he  expected  nothing  but  universal  submis- 
sion. But  our  gallant  ancestors  were  not  so  easily  to 
be  frightened  out  of  their  rights.  Langton,  the  primate, 
though  he  owed  his  elevation  to  an  encroachment  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  refused  to  obey  the  pope  in  publishing 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  the  batons. 
Persons  of  all  ranks,  among  the  clergy  as  well  as  laitv, 
seemed  determined  to  maintain,  at  the  expense  of  their 
lives,  the  privileges  granted  in  the  Great  Charter.^  John 
had  therefore  nothing  to  rely  on  for  re-establishing  his 
tyranny,  but  the  sword  of  his  Brabancons;  and  that  un- 
fortunately proved  too  strongs  if  not  for  the  liberties  of 
England,  at  least  for  its  prosperity. 

The  barons,  after  obtaining  the  Great  Charter,  had 
sunk  into  a  kind  of  fatal  security  ;  having  not  only  dis- 
missed their  vassals,  but  taking  no  rational  measures  for 
re-assembling  them  on  any  emergency:  so  that  the  king 
found  himself  master  of  the  field,  without  any  adequate 
force  to  oppose  him.  Castles  were  defended,  and  skir- 
mishes risked,  but  no  regular  opposition  was  made  to  the 
progress  of  the  royal  arms;  while  the  ravenous  mercena- 
ries, incited  by  a  cruel  and  incensed  prince,  were  let 
loose  against  the  houses  and  estates  of  the  barons,  and 
spread  devastation  over  the  whole  face  of  the  kingdom. 

1.  Bymer,  vol.  i.     M.  Paris.  Hht.  Major. 

Nothing 


ixT.  xxsii.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  363 

Nothing  was  to  be  seen,  from  Dover  to  Berwlcl:,  but 
the  flames  of  villages,  castles  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the 
consternation  and  miser}-  of  the  helpless  inhabitants". 

In  this  desperate  extremity,  the  barons  dreading  the 
total  loss  of  their  liberties,  their  lives  and  their  posses- 
sions, had  recourse  to  a  remedy  no  less  des- 

/      ^,.  cc        ^  .        1  11  T     •     A- D.  1210. 

perate.  1  hey  otterea  to  acknowledge  as  then- 
sovereign,  prince  Lewis,  eldest  son  of  Philip  Augustus 
king  of  France,  provided  he  would  protect  them  from 
the  fury  of  their  enraged  monarch.  The  temptation 
was  too  great  to  be  resisted  by  a  prince  of  Philip's  am- 
bition. He  sent  over  instantly  a  small  army  to  the 
relief  of  the  barons,  and  afterwards  a  more  nunaerous 
body  of  forces,  with  his  son  Lewis  at  the^r  head;  although 
the  pope's  legate  threatened  him  with  interdicts  and  ex- 
communications, if  he  presumed  to  invade  the  domi- 
nions of  a  prince  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the 
holy  see.  Assured  of  the  fidelity  of  his  subjects,  these 
menaces  were  little  regarded  by  Philip. 

The  French  monarch,  however,  took  care  to  pre- 
serve appearances  in  his  violences,  and  only  appearances. 
He  pretended  his  son  Lewis  had  accepted  the  ofi'er  from 
the  English  barons  without  his  advice,  and  contrary  to 
his  inclinations,  and  that  the  armies  sent  into  England 
were  levied  in  that  prince's  name.  But  these  artifices 
were  not  employed  by  Philip  to  deceive.  He  knew  that 
the  pope  had  too  much  penetration  to  be  so  easily  impos- 
ed upon,  and  that  they  were  too  gross  even  to  gull  the 
people;  but  he  knew,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  manner 
of  conducting  any  measure  is  of  as  much  consequence  as 
the  measure  itself,  and  that  a  violation  of  decency,  in  the 
eye  of  the  world,  is  more  criminal  than  a  breach  of 
justice. 

Lewis  no  sooner  landed  in  England,  than  John  was 
deserted  by  his  foreign  troops.,  who  being  principally  le- 

2.  M.  Paris.     Chton.  Ma:b-Qs. 


-Viet 


364  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

•vied  in  the  French  provinces,  refused  to  serve  against  the 
heir  of  their  monarchy  ;  so  that  the  barons  had  the  me- 
lancholy prospect  of  succeeding  in  their  purpose,  and  of 
escaping  the  tyranny  of  their  own  king,  by  imposing  on 
themselves  and  the  nation,  a  foreign  yoke.  But  the 
imprudent  partiality  of  Lewis  to  his  countrymen  increas- 
ed that  jealousy,  which  it  was  so  natural  for  the  English 
to  entertain  in  their  present  situation,  and  did  great  hurt 
to  his  cause.  Many  of  the  dissatisfied  barons  returned 
to  the  king's  party;  and  John  was  preparing  to  make  a 
last  effort  for  his  crown,  when  death  put  an  end  to  his 
troubles  and  his  crimes,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  eighteenth  of  his  reign.  His  character  is 
nothing  but  a  complication  of  vices,  equally  mean  and 
odious;  ruinous  to  himself  and  destructive  to  his  people. 
But  a  sally  of  wit  upon  the  usual  corpulency  of  the  priests, 
more  than  all  his  enormities,  made  him  pass  with  the 
clergy  of  that  age  for  an  impious  prince.  "  How  plump 
"  and  well  fed  is  this  animal  1"  exclaimed  he  one  day, 
when  he  had  caught  a  very  fat  stag  ; — "  and  yet  I  dare 
"  swear  he  never  heard  mass\" 

John  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  III.  only  nine 
years  old  at  his  father's  death:  and  for  once  a  minority 
proved  of  singular  service  to  England.  The  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  who  by  his  office  of  mareschal  was  at  the  head 
of  the  military  power,  and  consequently,  in  perilous 
times,  at  the  head  of  the  state,  determined  to  support  the 
authority  of  the  infant  prince.  He  was  chosen  protec- 
tor; and,  fortunately  for  the  young  monarch  and  for  the 
nation,  the  regency  could  not  have  been  entrusted  into 
more  able  and  more  faithful  hands.  In  order  to  recon- 
cile all  classes  of  men  to  the  government  of  his  pupil,  he 
made  him  renew  and  confirm  the  Great  Charter.  And 
he  wrote  letters  in  Henry's  name  to  all  the  malecontent 
barons,  representing,  that  whatever  animosity  they  might 

3.  M.  Paris. 

hav^ 


LET.  XXXII.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  305 

have  harboured  agahist  the  late  king,  they  ought  to  retain 
none  against  his  son,  who  had  now  succeeded  to  his 
throne,  but  neither  to  his  resentments  nor  to  his  princi- 
ples, and  was  resolved  to  avoid  the  paths  which  had  led 
to  such  dangei'ous  extremities;  cxhoiting  them,  at  the 
same  time,  by  a  speedy  return  to  their  duty,  to  restore 
the  independency  of  the  kingdom,  and  secure  that  liberty 
for  which  they  had  so  zealously  contended,  and  which 
was  now  confirmed  to  them  by  a  second  charter"^. 

These  arguments,  enforced  by  the  character  of  Pem.- 
broke,  had  a  mighty  influence  on  the  barons.  ]5r!ost  ot 
them  secretly  negociated  with  him,  and  many  of  them 
openly  returned  to  their  duty.  Lewis,  therefore,  who 
had  made  a  journey  to  France,  and  brought  over  Iresh 
succours  with  him  from  that  kingdom,  found  his  party 
much  weakened  on  his  return:  and  that  the  death  of 
John,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  had  blasted  his  favour- 
ite designs.  He  laid  siege,  however,  to  Dover,  which 
was  gallantly  defended  by  Hubert  de  Burgh.  In  the 
mean  time  the  French  army,  commanded  by  the  count 
de  Perche,  was  totally  defeated  by  the  earl  of  Pembroke, 
before  the  castle  of  Lincoln;  and  four  hundred  knights, 
with  many  persons  of  superior  rank,  were  made  prison- 
ers by  the  English.  Lewis,  when  informed  of  this  fa- 
tal event,  retired  to  London,  which  was  the  centre  and 
life  of  his  party.  He  there  received  intelligence  of  a 
new  disaster,  which  extinguished  all  his  hopes.  A 
French  fleet,  with  a  strong  reinforcement  on  board,  had 
been  repulsed  on  the  coast  of  Kent,  and  obliged  to  take 
shelter  in  their  own  harbours^. 

The  English  barons,  after  this  second  advantage 
gained  over  the  French,  by  the  royal  party,  hastened 
from  all  quarters  to  make  peace  with  the  protector,  and 
prevent,  by  an  early  submission,  those  attainders,  to 
which  they  were  exposed  on  account  of  their  rebellion  j 

4.  Rymer,  vol.  i.     Bradv.  Append.  No.  14".  5.  M.  Paris. 

while 


366  THE  HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

M'hile  Lewis,  whose  cause  was  now  totally  desperate,  be- 
gan to  be  anxioiis  lor  the  safely  of  his  person,  and  was 
glad,  on  any  tolerable  conditions,  to  make  his  escape 
from  a  country  where  c\  ery  thing  was  become  hostile  to 
him.  He  accordiuKh'  concluded  a  treaty  with 
Pembroke,  by  which  he  promised  to  evacuate 
the  kingdom;  only  stipulating  in  return,  an  indemnity  to 
his  adherents,  a  restitution  of  their  honours  and  fortunes, 
and  the  free  and  equal  enjoyment  of  those  liberties,  which 
had  been  granted  to  the  rest  of  the  natior/'.  Thus,  my 
dear  Philip,  was  happily  terminated  a  civil  war,  which 
seemed  to  spring  from  the  must  incurable  hatred  and 
jealousy,  and  had  threatened  to  make  England  a  province 
oi  France. 

The  prudence  and  equity  of  the  protector,  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  French,  contributed  to  cure  entirely 
those  wounds  which  had  been  made  by  intestine  discord. 
He  received  the  rebellious  barons  into  favour;  observed 
strictly  the  terms  of  peace,  which  he  had  granted  them ; 
restored  them  to  their  possessions;  and  endeavoured,  by 
an  equal  behaviour,  to  bury  all  past  animosities  in  per- 
petual oblivion.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  kingdom, 
this  great  and  good  man  did  not  long  survive  the  pacifi- 
cation: and  Henry,  when  he  came  of  age,  proving  a 
weak  and  contemptible  prince,  England  was  again  involv- 
ed in  civil  broils,  which  it  would  be  equally  idle  and  im- 
pertinent to  relate;  as  they  were  neither  followed,  during 
many  years;  by  an  event  of  importance  to  society,  nor 
attended  with  any  circumstances,  which  can  throw  light 
upon  the  human  character.  Their  causes  and  conse- 
quences were  alike  insignificant. 

It  is  necessary  however  to  observe,  that  the  king 
having  married  Eleanor,  daughter  of  the  count  of  Pro- 
vence, was  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  strangers, 
from  that  and  other  countries,  whom  he  caressed  with 
the  fondest  affection,  and  enriched  by  an  imprudent  gene- 

6.  Rymer.  vol.  i. 

rositv. 


I.ET.  XXXII.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  367 

rosity.  The  insolence  of  these  foreigners  is  said  to  have 
arisen  to  such  a  height,  that  when,  on  account  of  their 
outrages  or  oppressions,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  laws, 
they  scrupled  not  to  say,  "  What  do  the  laws  of  Eng- 
"  land  signify  to  us?  We  mind  them  not."  This  open 
contempt  of  the  English  constitution,  roused  the  resent- 
ment of  the  barons,  and  tended  much  to  aggravate  the 
general  discontent  arising  from  the  preference  shewn  to 
strangers;  as  it  made  every  act  of  violence,  committed 
by  a  foreigner,  appear  not  only  an  injury,  but  an  insult. 
Yet  no  remonstrance  or  complaint  could  ever  prevail  on 
the  king  to  abandon  them,  or  even  to  moderate  his  attach- 
ment towards  them. 

But  Henry's  profuse  bounty  to  his  foreign  relations, 
and  to  their  friends  and  favourites,  would  have  appeared 
more  tolerable  to  the  English,  had  any  thing  been  done 
for  the  benefit  of  the  nation  ;  or  had  the  king's  enterprizes 
in  foreign  countries  been  attended  with  any  success  or 
glory  to  himself  or  the  public.  Neither  of  these  however 
was  the  case.  As  imprudence  governed  his  policy,  mis- 
fortune marked  his  measures.     He   declared 

.  .       A.  D.  1242. 
war  against  France,  and  made  an  expedition 

into  Guienne,  upon  the  invitation  of  his  father-in-law, 
who  promised  to  join  him  with  all  his  forces: 

A     D     1 2  io 

but  being  worsted  at  Taillebourg,  he  was  de- 
serted by  his  allies,  lost  what  remained  to  him  of  Poi- 
tou,  and  v/as   obliged  to  return  with  disgrace   into  Eng- 
land'. 

Want  of  economy  and  an  ill-judged  liberality,  were 
tlie  great  defects  in  Henry's  domestic  administration. 
These  kept  him  alway;i  needy,  and  obliged  him  continu- 
ally to  harass  his  barons  for  monev  under  different  pre- 
tences. Their  discontents  were  thereby  increased,  and 
he  was  still  a  beggar.  Even  before  his  foreign  expedi- 
tion, his  debts  had  become  so  troublesome,  that  he  sold 
all    his   plate   and  jewels,   in   order  to    discharge  them. 

7.  M,  Paris.     W.  Hemming'.     Cbron.  Duiist. 

W!ien 


368  I'HE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

When  this  expedient  was  first  proposed  to  him,  he  asked 
where  he  should  find  purchasers.  "  In  the  city  of  Lon- 
don," it  was  replied.  "  On  my  woid,"  said  he,  "  if  the 
*'  treasmy  of  Augustus  were  brought  to  sale,  the  citi- 
"  zens  are  able  to  be  the  purchasers.  These  clowns, 
*'  who  assume  to  themselves  the  name  of  barons,  abound 
"  in  every  thing,  while  we  are  reduced  to  necessity^." 
And  he  was  thenceforth  observed  to  be  more  greedy  in 
his  exactions  upon  the  citizens. 

Many  however  as  were  the  grievances  that  the  Eng- 
lish during  this  reign,  had  reason  to  complain  of  in  their 
civil  government,  they  seem  to  have  been  still  less  bur- 
densome than  those  which  proceeded  from  spiritual  usur- 
pations and  abuses ;  and  which  Henry,  who  relied  on  the 
pope  for  the  support  of  his  tottering  authority,  never  fail- 
ed to  countenance.  All  the  chief  benefices  of  the  king- 
dom were  conferred  on  Italians,  great  numbers  of  whom 
were  sent  over  to  be  provided  for:  and  non-residence 
and  pluralities  were  carried  to  so  enormous  a  height,  that 
Mansel,  the  king's  chaplain,  is  computed  to  have  held, 
at  one  time,  seven  hundred  ecclesiastical  livings.  The 
pope  exacted  the  revenues  of  all  vacant  benefices;  the 
twentieth  of  all  ecclesiastical  revenues,  without  excep- 
tion; the  third  of  such  as  exceeded  one  hundred  marks 
a  year,  and  the  half  of  such  as  were  possessed  by  non- 
residents I  He  claimed  also  the  goods  of  all  intestate 
clergymen:  he  pretended  a  right  to  inherit  all  money  got 
by  usury,  and  he  levied  voluntary  contributions  on  the 
people''. 

But  the  most  oppressive  expedient  employed  by  the 
court  of  Rome,  in  order  to  drain  money  from  England, 
„  was  that  of  embarking  Henry  in  a  project 
for  the  conquest  of  Sicily.  On  the  death 
of  the  emperor  Frederic  II.  the  succession  of  that  island 
devolved  to  his  son  Conrad,  and  afterwards  to  his  grand- 
son Conradine,  yet  an  infant;  and  as  Mainfroy,  the  em- 

8.  M.  Paris.         9.  Ibid, 

peror's 


LET.  xxxii.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  369 

peror's  natural  son,  under  pretence  of  governing  the 
kingdom  during  the  minority  of  the  young  prince,  had 
formed  a  scheme  for  usurping  the  sovereignty,  Inno- 
cent IV.  had  a  good  apology  for  exerting  that  superi- 
ority which  the  popes  claimed  over  Sicily,  and  at  the 
same  time  ot  gratifying  his  hatred  against  the  house  of 
Suabia.  He  accordingly  attempted  to  make  himself 
master  of  the  kingdom;  but  being  disappointed  in  all  his 
enterprizes  by  the  activity  and  artifices  of  Mainfroy,  and 
finding  that  his  own  force  was  not  sufficient  for  such  a 
conquest,  he  made  a  tender  of  the  crown  to  Richard, 
ear.l  of  Cornwall,  brother  to  Henry  III.  and  supposed 
to  be  the  richest  subject  in  Europe.  Richard  had  the 
prudence  to  reject  the  dangerous  present,  but  not  the 
power  to  prevent  the  evil.  The  same  offer  being  after- 
wards made  to  the  king,  in  favour  of  his  second  son  Ed- 
mond,  that  weak  monarch  was  led  by  the  levity  and 
tlioughtlessness  of  his  disposition,  to  embrace  the  insi- 
dious proposal,  and  immense  sums  were  drained  from 
England,   under  pretence   of  carrying  this  lofe/r 

project  into  execution;  for  the  pope  took 
that  upon  himself.  But  the  money  was  still  found  in- 
sufficient: the  conquest  of  Sicily  was  as  remote  as  everi 
Henry,  therefore,  sensible  at  length  of  the  cheat,  was 
obliged  to  resign  into  the  pope's  hands  that  crown  which 
he  had  more  than  purchased,  but  which  it  was  never 
intended  either  he  or  his  family  should  inherit"^. 

The  earl  of  Cornwall  had  now  reason  to  value  him- 
self on  his  foresight,  in  refusing  the  fraudulent  bargain 
with  Rome,  and  in  preferring  the  solid  honours  of  an 
opulent  and  powerful  prince  of  the  blood  in  England,  to 
the  empty  and  precarious  glory  of  a  foreign  dignity;  but 
he  had  not  always   firmness  sufficient  to  adhere  to  this 

resolution.   His  immense  wealth  made  the  ^^^^ 

„  .  ,    .  ,  .  A.   D.   1256. 

Oerman  prmces  cast  their  eye  on  mm  as 

a  candidate   for  the  empire,   after  the  death  of  William 

10.  Rymer,  vol.  i.     M.  Paris.     Chron.  Dunst. 
VOL.    I,  5  >?  of 


370  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

of  Holland;  and  his  vanity  and  ambition  for  once  prevail* 

ed  over  his  prudence  and  his  avarice.      He  went  over 

to  Germany,  was  tempted  to  expend  vast  sums  on  his 

election,  and   succeeded   so   far   as   to  be  chosen  by  a 

faction,  and    crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle ;   but    having 

.^   -    i^o  personal  or  family  connections  in  that 

A.    B.    1257.         '  ,  -^  ,  ,  .  ... 

country,  he  never  could   attain   any  solid 

power.      He  therefore  found  it  necessary  to  return  into 

England,  after  having  lavished  away  the  frugality  of  « 

whole  life,  in  order  to  procure  a  splendid  title''. 

England,  in  the  meanwhile,  was  involved  in  nevf' 
troubles.  I'he  w^eakness  of  Henry's  government,  and 
the  absence  of  his  brother,  gave  reins  to  the  factious 
and  turbulent  spirit  of  the  barons.  They  demanded  an 
extension  of  their  privileges  ;  and,  if  we  may  credit  the 
historians  of  those  times,  had  formed  a  plan  of  so  many 
limitations  on  the  royal  authority,  as  would  have  reduced 
the  king  to  a  mere  cypher.  Henry  would  agree  to  no- 
thing but  a  renewal  of  the  Great  Charter;  which,  at  the 
desire  of  the  barons,  was  ratified  in  the  following  man- 
ner. All  the  prelates  and  abbots  were  assembled;  they 
held  burning  tapers  in  their  hands;  the  Great  Charter 
was  read  before  them:  they  denounced  the  sentence  of 
exccfmmumcation  against  every  one  who  should  violate 
that  fundamental  law;  they  threw  their  tapers  on  the 
ground,  and  exclaimed,  "  May  the  soul  of  every  one, 
"  who  incurs  this  sentence^  so  stink  and  corrupt  ift 
"  hell!"  The  king  also  bore  a  part  in  the  ceremony, 
and  subjoined,  "  So  help  me  God;  I  will  keep  all 
"  these  articles  inviolate,  as  I  am  a  man,  as  I  am  a 
"  Christian,  as  I  am  a  knight,  and  as  I  am  a  king 
''  crowned  and  anointed'-. 

This  tremendous  ceremony,  however,  was  no  soon- 
er over  than  the  king  forgot  his  engagements,  and  the- 
barons  renewed  their  pretensions.  At  the  head  of  the 
malecontents   was  Simon  de  Montfort,  earl  of  Lcices-' 

11.  M.  Paris.-  12.  W.  Hemming.     M.  Paris.  M.  West. 

tcr, 


XT.T.  XXXII.]  MODERi\  EUROPE.  371 

ter,  a  man  of  great  talents  and  boundless  ambition,  who 
had  married  Eleanor,  the  king's  sister,  and  hoped  to 
Njvrest  the  sceptre  from  the  feeble  and  irresolute  hand 
that  held  it.  He  represented  to  his  associates  the  ne- 
cessity of  reforming  the  state,  and  of  putting  the  exe- 
cution of  the  laws  into  other  hands  than  those  which  had 
hitherto  been  found,  from  repeated  experience,  unfit 
for  that  important  charge.  After  so  many  submissions 
and  fruitless  promises,  the  king's  word,  he  said,  could 
no  longer  be  relied  on,  and  his  inability  tq  violate  na- 
tional privileges  could  thenceforth  only  insure  their  pre- 
servation, 

These  observations,  which  were  founded  in  truth, 
and  entirely  conformable  to  the  sentiments  of  those  to 
whom  they  were  addressed,  had  the  desired  effect.  The 

barons   resolved  to  take  the  administration 

1     •  11  J     TT  .        .         A,  D,  1^3B, 

into   their  own  hands:    and   Henry  havmg 

summoned  a  parliament  at  Oxford,  found  himself  a 
prisoner  in  his  national  council,  and  was  obliged  to  sub- 
mit to  the  terms  prescribed  to  him,  called  the  Pro- 
visions of  Oxford,  According  to  these  provisions, 
twelve  barons  were  selected  from  among  the  king's  mi- 
nisters: twelve  more  were  chosen  by  the  parliament  : 
and  to  those  twenty-four  barons  unlimited  authority  was 
granted  to  reform  the  state,  Leicester  was  at  the  head 
of  this  legislative  body,  to  which  the  supi-eme  power 
was  in  reality  transferred:  and  their  first  step  seemed 
well  calculated  for  the  end  which  they  professed  to 
have  in  view.  They  ordered  that  four  knights  should 
be  chosen  by  each  county ;  that  they  should  make  inqui- 
ry into  the  grievances  of  which  their  neighbourhood  had 
reason  to  complain,  and  should  attend  the  ensuing  par- 
liament, in  order  to  give  information  to  that  assembly 
of  the  state  of  their  particular  counties'^ 

The  earl  of  Leicester  and  his  associates,  however, 
having  advanced  so  far  as  to  satisfy  the  nation,  instead 
of  continuing  in  the  same  popular  course,  immediately 

13,  Rymer,  yoI,  i.    M.  Paris.  Chron.  Dunst. 

provided 


$M  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  t, 

provided  for  the  extension  and  continuation  of  their 
own  exorbitant  authority,  at  the  expense  both  of  the 
king  and  the  people.  They  enjoyed  the  supreme  pow- 
er near  three  years  ;  and  had  visibly  emplojed  it,  not 
for  the  reformation  of  the  state,  their  original  pretence, 
for  assuming  it,  but  for  the  aggrandizement  of  them- - 
selves  and  families.  The  breach  of  trust  was  evident 
to  all  the  world:  every  order  of  men  in  England  felt  it, 
and  murmured  against  it;  and  the  pope,  in 
order  to  gain  the  favour  of  the  nation,  ab-^ 
solved  the  king  and  all  his  subjects,  from  the  oath 
which  they  had  taken  to  observe  the  provisions  of 
Oxford'*. 

As   soon  as  Henry  received    the  pope's  absolution 
from  his  oath,  accompanied  with  threats  of  excommuni- 
cation against  all  his  opponents,  he  resumed 
*  the  government;  offering,  however,  to  main- 
tain all  the  regulations  made  by  the  reforming  barons, 
except  those  which  entirely  annihilated  the  royal  authority. 
But  these  haughty  chieftains  could  not  peaceably  resign 
that  uncontrolled   power,   which    thev    had 
so   long   enjoj'ed.       JVlany  or  them  adopted 
Leicester's  viev/s,   which  held  in  prospect  nothing  less 
than  the  throne  itself.   The  civil  war  was  renewed  in  all 

its  horrors:  and  after  several  fruitless  nego- 
A.  D.  1264.    .     .  ,         n     ^    1  r  r  ni- 

dations, the  collected  iorce  oi  the  two  parties 

met  near  Lewes,  in  Sussex,  where  the  royal  army- 
was  totally  defeated,  and  the  king  and  prince  Edward 
made  prisoners. 

No  sooner  had  Leicester  obtained  this  victory,  and 
got  the  royal  family  in  his  power,  than  he  acted  as  sole 
master,  and  even  tyrant  of  the  kingdom.  He  seized  the 
estates  of  no  less  than  eighteen  barons,  as  his  share  of 
the  spoil  gained  in  the  battle  of  Lewes:  he  engrossed  tq 
himself  the  ransom  of  all  the  prisoners,  and  told  his 
barons,  with  wanton  insolence,  that  it  was  sufficient  for 

14.  Ibid. 

them 


LET.  XXXII.]      MODERN  EUROPE.  372 

them  that  he  had  saved  them,  by  that  victory,  from 
the  forfeitures  and  attainders  which  hung  over  them. 
All  the  officers  of  the  crown  were  named  by  him;  the 
whole  authority,  as  well  as  arms  of  the  state,  was  lodg- 
ed in  his  hands'^. 

But  it  was  impossible  that  things  could  remain  long 
in  this  equivocal  situation.  It  became  necessary  for 
Leicester  either  to  descend  to  the  rank  of  a  subject,  or 
mount  up  to  that  of  a  sovereign  j  and  he  could  do  neither 
without  peril.  He  summoned  a  new  parlia- 
ment;  which,  for  his  own  purposes,  he  fixed  on 
a  more  democratical  basis  than  any  called  since  the  Nor- 
man conquest,  if  not  from  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy. 
He  ordered  returns  to  be  made  not  only  of  two  knights 
from  every  shire,  but  also  of  deputies  from  the 
boroughs'^;  and  thus  introduced  into  the  national  coun- 
cil a  second  order  of  men,  hitherto  regarded  as  too  mean 
to  enjoy  a  place  in  those  august  assemblies,  or  have  any 
share  in  the  government  of  the  state. 

But  although  we  are  indebted  to  Leicester's  usurpa- 
tion for  the  first  rude  outline  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
his  policy  only  forwarded  by  some  years  an  institution,  for 
which  the  general  state  of  society  had  already  prepared 
the  nation;  and  that  house,  though  derived  from  so  in- 
vidious an  origin,  when  summoned  by  legal  princes,  soon 
proved  one  of  the  most  useful  members  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  gradually  rescued  the  kingdom,  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  see,  both  from  aristocratical  and  regal 
tyranny.  It  is  but  just,  however,  to  observe,  that  as 
this  necessary,  and  now  powerful  branch  of  our  consti- 
tution, owed  its  rise  to  usurpation,  it  is  the  only  one  of 
the  three  that  has  latterly  given  an  usurper  to  the  state. 
The  person  to  whom  I  allude,  is  Oliver  Cromwell;  and  I 
will  be  so  bold  as  to  affirm,  that  if  ever  England  is  again 
subjected  to  the  absolute  will  of  any  one  man,  unless  from 
abroad,  that  man  must  be  a  member  of  the  House  of 

IS\  Rymer,  vol,  i.    M.  Paris.    W.  Hemming.    H,  Knyghton,    16.  Ibid. 

Commons. 


374  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Commons.  The  people  are  alike  jealous  of  the  power  of 
the  king  and  of  the  nobles;  but  they  are  themselves 
greedy  of  dominion,  and  can  only  possess  ii  through  their 
representatives.  A  popular  member  of  the  lower  house, 
therefore,  needs  only  ambition,  enterprize,  and  a  favour- 
able conjuncture  to  overturn  the  throne;  to  strip  the 
nobles  of  their  dignities;  and,  while  he  blows  the  trumpet 
of  libertVj  to  tell  his  equals  they  are  slaves. 

Leicester'^  motive  for  giving  this  form  to  the  pai'- 
liament,  was  a  desire  of  crushing  his  rivals  among  the 
powerful  barOns;  and  trusting  to  the  popularity  acquired 
by  such  a  measure,  he  made  the  earl  of  Derby  be  ac- 
cused in  the  king's  name,  and  ordered  him  to  be  seized 
and  committed  to  prison  without  being  brought  to  any 
legal  trial.  Several  other  barons  were  threatened  with 
the  same  fate,  and  deserted  the  confederacy.  The 
royalists  flew  to  arms;  prince  Edward  made  his  escape; 
and  the  joy  of  this  young  hero's  appearance,  together 
with  the  oppressions  under  which  the  nation  laboured, 
soon  produced  him  a  force  which  Leicester  was  unable 
to  resist.  A  battle  was  fought  near  Evesham;  where 
Leicester  was  slain,  and  his  army  totally  routed.  When 
that  nobleman,  who  possessed  great  military  talents,  ob- 
served the  vast  superiority  in  numbers,  and  excellent 
disposition  of  the  royalists,  he  exclaimed,  "  The  Lord 
*'  have  mercy  on  our  souls!  for  I  see  our  bodies  are 
"  prince  Edward's:  he  has  learned  from  me  the  art  of 
**  war''."  Another  particular  deserves  to  be  noticed. 
The  old  king,  disguised  in  armour, having  been  purposely 
placed  by  the  rebels  in  the  frontof  the  battle,  had  received 
a  wound,  and  was  ready  to  be  put  to  death,  when  he 
weakly,  but  opportunely  cried  out,  "  Spare  my  lifel — I 
*'  am  Henry  of  Winchester,  your  king  ^"  His  brave 
son  flev/  to  his  rescue,  and  put  him  in  a  place  of  safety. 

The  victory  of  Evesham  proved  decisive  in  favour  of 
the  royal  party,  but  was  used  with  moderation.  Although 

17.  W.  Kenimiug.     M.  Paris.  18.  W  Hemming,  lib.  iii. 

the 


LET.  XXXII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  iYS 

the  suppression  of  so  extensive  a  rebellion  commonly 
produces  a  revolution  in  government,  and  strengthens 
as  well  as  enlarges  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  no 
sacrifices  o(  national  liberty  were  exacted  upon  this 
occasion.  The  clemency  of  this  victory  is  also  remarka- 
ble; no  blood  was  shed  on  the  scaffold.  The  mild  dis- 
position of  the  king,  and  the  prudence  of  the  prince, 
tempered  the  insolence  of  power,  and  gradually  restored 
order  to  the  several  members  of  the  state* 

The  affairs  of  England  were  no  sooner  settled  than 
prince  Edward,  seduced  by  a  thirst  of  glory,  undertook 
an  expedition  into  the  Holy  Land;  where  he 
signalized  him  sell  by  many  acts  ol  valour,  and 
Struck  such  terror  into  the  Saracens,  that  they  emplov- 
ed  an  assassin  to  murder  him.  The  ruffian  wounded 
Edward  in  the  arm,  but  paid  for  his  temerity  with  his 
life '9.  Meanwhile  the  prince's  absence  from  England 
was  productive  of  many  pernicious  consequences,  whicli 
the  old  king,  unequal  to  the  burden  of  government,  was 
little  able  to  prevent-".    He  therefore  implored  his  gallant 

son  to  return,  and  assist  him  in  swaviner  that 

•  .     A.  D.  1271 

sceptre    which    was   ready  to  drop  from   his 

feeble   hands.      Edward  obeyed;    but   before    his  arrival 

the  king  expired  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  and 

the  fifty-sixth  of  his  reign,  the  longest  in  the  English 

annals. 

The  most  obvious  feature  in  the  character  of  Henrv 

III.  is  his  weakness.   From  this  source,  rather  than  from 

insincerity  or  treachery,  arose  his  negligence  in  observing 

his  promises;  and  hence,   for  the  sake  of  present   conve- 

niency,  he   was  easily  induced  to  sacrifice   the  lasting 

advantages  arising  from  the  trust  find  confidence  of  his 

people.  A  better  head,  with  the  same  dispositions,  would 

have   prevented  him  from  falling  into  so  many  errors! 

19.  M.  Paris.     T.  Wykes. 

20.  The  police  v/as  so  loose  during  the  latter  part  of  Henry's  reign, 
that  rot  only  single  houses,  but  whole  villages  were  often  pillaged  hj 
liands  of  ro!»bers,     Ckron.  Dicmt. 

but 


376  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  l. 

but  (every  good  has  its  alloy!)  with  a  worse  heart,  it 
would  have  enabled  him  to  maintain  them. 

Prince  Edward  had  reached  Sicily  in  his  return  from 
the  Holy  Land,  when  he  received  intelligence  of  th& 
death  of  his  father,  and  immediately  proceeded  home- 
ward. But  a  variety  of  objects,  my  dear  Philip,  claim 
your  attention  before  I  carry  farther  the  transactions  of 
our  own  island,  which  now  become  truly  important.  The 
reign  of  Edward  I.  forms  a  new  sera  in  the  history  of 
Britain^ 


LETTER  XXXIIL 


f-'RANCE,  FROM  THE  REIGN  OF  PHILIP  AUGUSTUS,  TO  THK  END 
OF  THE  REIGN  OF  LEWIS  IX.  COMMONLY  CALLED  ST.  LEWIt,' 
VriTH  SOME   ACCOUNT  OF  THE   LAST  CRUSADE. 

J.  HE  reign  of  Philip  Augustus  has  already  en- 
gaged our  attention.  We  have  had  occasion  to  observe 
the  great  abilities  of  that  prince,  both  as  a  warrior  and 
a  politician  ;  we  have  seen  him  reunite  many  fine  pro- 
vinces to  the  kingdoni  of  France  at  the  expense  ot  the 
English  monarchy:  we  have  seen  him  attempt  the  con- 
ijuest  of  England  itself  j  and  we  have  also  seen  in  what 
manner  prince  Lewis  was  obliged  to  abandon  that  pro- 
ject, notwithstanding  the  power  and  the  intrigues  of 
Philip.  Soon  after  the  return  of  Lewis, 
his  father  died,  and  left  the  kingdom  of 
France  twice  as  large  as  he  had  received  it ;  so  that  fu- 
ture acquisitions  became  easy  to  his  successors. 

Lewis  VIII.  however,  did  not  enlarge  the  monarchy. 
His  short  reign  was  chiefly  spent  in  a  crusade  against 

the 


ti:T.  XXXIII.]       MODERN  EUROPE.  377 

the   Alblgenses,   in   the  prosecution   of  whicli  he    died. 

He    was   succeeded   by   his   son    Lewis    IX.  ^^^r. 

.  .  A.  D.  1226. 

commonly  called   St.    Lewis.       Durmg   the 

minority  of  this  prince,  though  in  his  twelfth  year  at  his 
accession,  a  variety  of  disorders  arose  in  France,  occa- 
sioned chiefly  by  the  ambition  of  the  powerful  vassals  of 
the  crown.  But  all  these  were  happily  composed  by  the 
prudence  and  firmness  of  Blanche  of  Castile,  the  regent 
and  queen-mother. 

Lewis  no  sooner  came  of  age  than  he  was  univer- 
sally acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  prince  in  Europe; 
and  his  character  is,  perhaps,   the  most  singular   in  the 

annals  of  history.      To  the  mean  and  abiect  ^    ^ 

'  ,     ,  •      ,    „    .  A.D.  1235. 

superstition  oi  a  monk,  he  united  all  the  cou- 
rage and  magnanimity  of  a  hero;  nay,  what  may  be 
deemed  still  more  wonderful,  the  justice  and  integrity 
of  the  sincere  patriot;  and,  where  religion  was  not  con- 
cerned, the  mildness  and  humanity  of  the  true  philoso- 
pher. So  far  was  he  from  taking  advantage  of  the  divi- 
sions among  the  English,  during  the  reign  of  Henry  IIL 
or  attempting  to  expel  those  dangerous  rivals  from  the 
provinces  which  they  still  possessed  in  France,  that  he 
entertained  many  scruples  in  regard  to  the  sentence  of 
attainder  pronounced  against  the  king's  father,  and  had 
not  his  bishops,  it  is  said,  persuaded  him,  that  John  was 
justly  punished  for  his  barbarity  and  felony,  he  would 
have  restored  all  the  conquests  made  by  Philip  Au- 
gustus'. 

When  Gregory  IX.  after  excommunicating  Frederic 

II.  offered  the  empire  to  the  count  of  Artois, 

.  A.  D.  1240. 

brother  of  St  Lewis,  this  pious  prince  acted 

in  the  same  disinterested  manner.     He  did   not  indeed 

refuse  that  gift  as  what  the  pope  had  no  right  to  bestow, 

but  he  replied,  that  Frederic  had  always  appeared  to  him 

a  good  catholic;  that  ambassadors  should  first  be  sent  to 

him,  to  know  his  sentiments  touching  the  faith;  that,  if 

1.  Mangius,  in  Vita  Ludovici  IX. 
vot,  I.  3  G  orthodox, 


378  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  t. 

orthodox,  there  could  be  no  reason  for  attacking  him ; 
but  if  heretical,  war  ought  to  be  carried  on  against  him 
with  violence;  and,  in  such  case,  even  against  the  pope 
himselP. 

This  was  Lev/is's  foible.  Persuaded  that  heretics, 
or  those  who  did  not  hold  the  established  belief,  deserv- 
ed the  punishment  of  death,  he  favoured  the  tribunal 
of  the  inquisition;  and  the  same  turn  of  thinking  led 
him  to  ascribe  merit  to  a  war  against  infidels.  His  hu- 
mane heart  became  a  prev  to  the  barbarous  devotion  of 

_    ,  ,     the  times.      Being  seized  with  a  dangerous 
A.  D   124-4'. 

illness,  v/hich  deprived  him  of  his  senses, 

and  almost  of  his  life,  his  heated  imagination  took  fire, 
and  he  thought  he  heard  a  voice  commanding  him  to 
shed  the  blood  of  infidels.  He  accordingly  made  a  vow, 
as  soon  as  he  recevered,  to  engage  in  a  new  crusade, 
and  immediately  took  the  cross.  Nor  could  any  re- 
monstrances engage  him  to  forego  his  purpose:  he  con- 
sidered his  vow  as  a  sacred  obligation,  which  it  was  not 
permitted  man  to  dissolved 

But  Lewis,  though  not  to  be  dissuaded  from  his 
eastern  expedition,  was  in  no  hurry  to  depart.  He 
spent  four  years  in  making  preparations,  and  in  settling 
the  government  of  his  kingdom,  which  he  left  to  the 
care  of  his  mother;  and,  at  fcngth,  set  sail  for  Cyprus, 
accompanied  by  his  queen,  his  three  brothers, 
'  and  almost  all  the  knights  of  France.  At 
Cyprus  it  was  resolved  to  make  a  descent  upon  Egypt, 
as  experience  had  shewn,  that  Jerusa.lem  and  the  Holy 
Land  could  never  be  preserved,  while  that  country  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  infidels^.  But  before  I  speak 
of  the  transactions  of  Egypt,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of 
the  state  of  the  east  in  those  times. 

Asia,  my  dear  Philip,  from  the  earliest  ages,  has 
been  the  seat  of  enormous  monarchy,  and  the  theatre  of 
the  most  astonishing  revolutions.      You  have  seen  with 

2  Ibid.  3.  lQ\\\\\\\z,IIkt.de  St.Louh.  4.  Ibid. 

what 


LET.  XXXIII. J     MODERN    EUROPE.  3/9 

what  rapidity  it  was  over-run  by  the  Arabs,  and  after- 
wards by  the  Turks:  you  have  seen  those  conquering 
people,  for  a  time,  borne  down  by  the  champions  of  the 
cross,  and  Saladin  himself  sink  beneath  the  arm  of  our 
illustrious  Richard.  But  neither  the  zeal  of  the  Chris- 
tians, nor  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Mahometans,  who  were 
supposed  to  have  carried  conquest  to  its  utmost  point, 
was  attended  with  a  success  equal  to  the  hardy  valour  of 
the  Moguls,  or  Western  Tartars,  under  Genghiz-Kan; 
who,  in  a  few  years,  extended  his  dominions,  fi*om  a 
small  territory,  to  more  than  eighteen  hundred  leagues, 
from  east  to  west,  and  above  a  thousand,  from  north  to 
south.  He  conquered  Persia,  and  pushed  his  conquests 
as  far  as  the  Euphrates  ;  subdued  Indostan,  and  great 
part  of  China;  all  Tartary,  and  the  frontier  provinces  of 
Russia. 

This  wonderful  man  died  in  1226,  when  he  was  pre- 
paring to  complete  the  conquest  of  China.  His  empire 
was  divided  among  his  four  sons,  whose  names  it  is  un- 
necessary here  to  mention.  They  continued  united 
till  the  death  of  Octay,  his  successor  as  Great  Kan,  who 
totally  subjected  Egypt.  One  of  his  grandsons  passed 
the  Euphrates  ;  dispossessed  the  Turks  of  that  part  of 
Asia  Minor  now  called  Natolia,  and  terminated  the  do- 
minion of  the  Califs  of  Bagdat.  Another  of  them  car- 
ried terror  into  Poland,  Hungary,  Dalmatia,  and  to  the 
very  gates  of  Constantinople^. 

These  Western  Tartars,  accustomed  from  their  birth 
to  brave  hunger,  fatigue,  and  death,  were  ii'resistible, 
while  they  preserved  their  savage  austerity  of  manners. 
The  offspring  of  the  same  deserts  which  had  produced 
the  Scythians,  the  Huns,  and  Turks,  they  were  more 
fierce  than  either;  and  as  the  Goths  had  formerly  seiz- 
ed upon  Thrace,  when  expelled  by  the  Huns  from  their 
native  habitations,  the  Korasmins,  in  like  manner,  flying 
before  the   Moguls,  overran  Syria,   and  Palestine,  and 

5.  De  la  Croix,  Ht,  Genghiz-Kan.     Mod,  Ur;:v.  Hist.  vol.  ui.  fol.  edit. 

made 


88©  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

made  themselves  masters  of  Jerusalem  in  1244,  putting 
the  inhabitants  to  the  sword<^.  The  Christians,  howe- 
ver, still  possessed  7Vre,  Sidon,  Tripoli,  and  Ptole- 
mais;  and  though  always  divided  among  themselves, 
and  cutting  one  another's  throats,  they  united  in  implor- 
ing the  assistance  of  Europe  against  this  new  danger. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  the  east,  and  of  the  Ori- 
ental Christians,  when  St.  Lewis  set  out  for  their  re* 
lief.  But,  instead  of  sailing  immediateh'  for  Palestine, 
he  made  a  descent,  as  I  have  observed,  upon  Egypt. 
His  declared  purpose  in  so  doing  has  been  already  ex- 
plained. But  as  the  soldan  of  Egypt  was  not  now  in  posses- 
sion of  Jerusalem,  this  invasion  must  have  proceeded 
from  the  king  of  France's  ignorance  of  the  affairs  of  the 
east;  or  from  an  ambition  of  conquering  so  fine  a  coun- 
try, more  than  from  any  hope  of  advancing  the  interest 
of  Christianity. 

Lewis  and  his  prodigious  army,   said  to  have  been 

^^,^    transported  in  eighteen  hundred  ships,  land- 
A.  D,  1249.  ^  .      °  / 

ed  near  the  city  of  Damietta  ;  which,  con- 
trary to  all  expectation,  was  abandoned  to  them.  He 
afterwards  received  fresh  succours  from  France,  and 
found  himself  in  the  plains  of  Egvpt  at  the  head  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  the  flower  of  his  kingdom,  by  whom  he 
was  both  obeyed  and  loved.  What  might  not  have  been 
expected  from  such  a  force,  under  such  a  general!  Not 
only  Egypt,  but  Syria,  should  have  yielded  to  their 
arms.  Yet  this  crusade,  like  all  the  rest,  terminated  in 
sorrow   and   dtsappointment.        One  half  of  these   fine 

,^   „    troops  fell  a  prev  to  sickness  and  debauchery: 

A.  D.   1250.      ,         '  ,'r  ,  ,  '  11  T»x 

the  other  was  defeated  by  tne  soldan,  at  JVlas- 
soura,  where  Lewis  beheld  his  brother,  Robert  of  Artois, 
killed  by  his  side,  and  himself  taken  prisoner,  together 
with  his  other  two  brothers,  the  count  of  Anjou  and  the 
pount  of  Poitiers,  and  all  his  nobility^. 

6.  Id.  ibicj.  7-  Joinville,  Hist,  de  St.  Louis. 

The 


LET.  xxxm.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  381 

The  French,  however,  were  still  in  possession  of 
Dann.ietta.  There  St.  Lewis's  consort  was  lodged;  and 
thinking  her  safety  doubtful,  as  the  place  was  besieged, 
she  addressed  herself  to  the  Sieur  Joinville,  a  venerable 
knight,  and  made  him  promise,  on  the  faith  of  chivalry, 
to  cut  off  her  head,  if  ever  her  virtue  should  be  in  danger. 
"  Most  readily,"  answered  Joinville,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
the  times,  "  will  I  perform  at  your  request,  what  I 
*'  thought  indeed  to  do  of  myself,  should  misfortune 
"  make  it  necessary."  But  he  had  happily  no  occasion 
to  put  his  promise  into  execution.  Damietta  held  out, 
and  a  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  soldan,  by  which 
that  city  was  restored,  in  consideration  of  the  king's 
liberty,  and  a  thousand  pieces  of  gold  paid  for  the  ran- 
som of  the  other  prisoners^. 

Lewis  was  now  solicited  to  return  to  Europe  with 
the  remnant  of  his  fleet  and  army,  but  devotion  led  him 
to  Palestine,  where  he  continued  four  years,  without  ef- 
fecting any  thing  of  consequence.  In  the  mean  time  the 
affairs  of  France  were  in  much  confusion.  The  queen- 
mother,  during  the  king's  captivity,  had  unadvisedly 
given  permission  to  a  fanatical  monk,  to  preach  a  new 
crusade  for  her  son's  release;  and  this  man  availing  him- 
self of  the  pastoral  circumstance  in  the  Nati- 
vity, assembled  near  one  hundred  thousand 
people  of  low  condition,  whom  he  called  shepherds.  It 
soon  appeared,  however,  that  they  might  with  more  pro- 
priety have  been  styled  wolves.  They  robbed  and  pil- 
laged wherever  they  came;  and  it  was  found  necessary 
to  disperse  them  by  force  of  arms.  Nor  was  that  eflfect- 
ed  Avithout  much  trouble''. 

The   death  of  the  queen-mother  determined  Lewis, 

at  last,  to  revisit  France.     But  he  only  re- 

1  •  I      .  r  J       ^-D.  1258, 

turned  in  order  to  prepare  tor  a  new  crusade ; 

so  strongly  had  that  madness  taken  hold  of  his  mind!— 

8.  Id.  ibid.  9.  Fontainay,  Hist,  de  I'Eglhe  Gallic,  torn.  xi. 

Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii. 

Meanwhile 


383  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Meanwhile  his  zeal  for  justice,  his  care  to  reform  abuses, 
his  wise  laws,  his  virtuous  example,  soon  repaired  the 
evils  occasioned  by  his  absence.  He  established  on  a 
solid  foundation,  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  royal  judges, 
one  of  the  best  expedients  for  reducing  the  exorbitant 
power  of  the  nobles.  He  absolutely  prohibited  pri- 
vate wars,  which  the  feudal  anarchy  had  tolerated:  he 
substituted  juridical  proofs,  instead  of  those  by  duel;  and 
no  less  enlightened  than  pious,  he  rescued  France  from 
the  exactions  of  the  court  of  Kome'°. 

In  his  transactions  with  his  neighbours,  Lewis  was 
alike  exemplary.  Equity  and  disinterestedness  were 
the  basis  of  his  policy.  If  he  sometimes  carried  these 
virtues  too  far,  as  a  prince,  they  always  did  him  honour 
as  a  man:  they  even  procured  him  respect  as  a  sovereign, 
and  secured  to  his  subjects  the  greatest  blessing  that  a 
people  can  enjoy,  peace  and  prosperity.  He  ceded  to 
James  I.  of  Arragon  his  incontestible  right  to  Rousillon 

.^^^    and  Catalonia,   which   had    been  subject   to 
A.  D,  1262. 

France  from  the  time  of  Cl>arlemagne,  in  ex- 
change for  certain  claims  of  that  monarch  to  some  fiefs 

in  Provence  and  Lancruedoc  :   and  he  restor- 
A.  D. 1263.  .  . 

*  ed   lo  the   English  crown  Querci,  Perigord, 

and  the  Limousin,  for  no  higher  consideration  than  that 
the  king  of  England  should  renounce  all  right  to  Nor- 
mandy, Maine,  and  other  forfeited  provinces,  which 
were  already  in  the  possession  of  France.  But  Lewis, 
as  has  been  observed,  was  doubtful  of  the  right  by  which 
he  held  those  provinces.  And  although  an  ambitious 
prince,  instead  of  makipg  this  compromise,  might  have 
taken  advantage  of  the  troubles  of  England  under  Henry 
III.  to  seize  Guiennc,  and  all  that  remained  to  that  mo- 
narchy in  France,  such  a  prince  might  also,  by  these 
means,  have  drawn  on  himself  the  jealousy  of  his  neigh- 
bours, and  in  the  end  have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  his  rapa- 

10.  Id.  ibid. 

city: 


LET.  xxxiir.]       MODERN  EUROPE.  2U 

cltv:  whereas   Lewis,  by  his  moderation,   acquired  the 

confidence  of  all  Europe,  and  was  chosen  ar-  ^„^. 

,  .        ,  V     1  •  f  1-      1       1         II-     A.  D.  1.264. 

biter  between  the  king  oi   England   and   his 

barons,  at  a  time  wlien  it  was  his  interest  to  have  ruined 
both;  an  honour  never  conferred  upon  any  other  rival 
monarch,  and  with  which,  perhaps,  no  other  could  ever 
safelv  have  been  trusted.  He  determined  in  favour  of 
the  king,  without  prejudice  to  the  people  :  he  annulled 
the  provisions  of  Oxford,  as  derogatory  to  the  rights  of 
the  crown,  but  enforced  the  observation  of  the  Great 
Charter.  And  although  this  sentence  was  rejected  by 
Leicester  and  his  party,  it  will  remain  to  all  ages  an 
eternal  monument  of  the  equity  of  Lewis". 

The  most  blamable  circumstance  in  this  great  mo- 
narch's conduct,  and  pei^haps  the  only  one  that  deserves 
to  be  considered  in  that  light,  was  his  approbation  of  the 
treaty  between  his  brother  and  the  pope,  relative  to 
Sicily.  That  kingdom  had  formerly  been  offered,  as 
you  have  seen,  to  the  earl  of  Cornwall,  and  to  prince 
Edmond,  son  of  Henry  IIL  After  being  given  up  by 
England,  it  was  offered  to  the  count  of  Anjou:  he  accept- 
ed it ;   and  Lewis  permitted  a  crusade  to  be  preached  in 

France   ap-^inst  Mainfroy,   who  had  now  ac-  ^^^^ 

„  ,    ,       o-   .,•         ,  •  .       A.u.  1266. 

tually  usurped  the  bicilian  throne,  in  preju- 
dice of  his  nephev/  Conradine.  The  count  of  Anjou 
marched  into  Italv  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army. — 
Mainfroy  was  defeated  and  slain  in  the  plains  of  Bene- 
vento,  and  Conradine  appeared  in  vindication  of  his 
native  rights.  He  was  also  routed  and  taken  prisoner, 
together  with  his  uncle,  the  duke  of  Austria  ;  and  both 

were  executed  at  Naples,  upon  a  scaffold,  at 
1  _    ,  111  A.  D. 1268. 

the  request  ol  the  pope,  and  by  the  sentence 

of  a  pretended  court  of  justice'-;  an  indignity  not  hither- 
to offered  to  a  crowned  head. 

11.  Rymer,  vol.  i.  Chron.  T.  Wykes.  Chron.  Dunst.  M.  Paris.  W. 
H«mmin^.  12.  Giannone,  Hist,  cii  Nafi. 

In 


584  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  t. 

In  consequence  of  the  revolution  that  follov/ed  this 
barbarity,  by  which  Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  established 
himself  on  the  Sicilian  throne,  the  ancient  rights  of  that 
island  were  annihilated,  and  it  fell  entirely  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  pope.  Meanwhile  St.  Lewis,  who^ 
either  out  of  respect  to  his  holiness,  or  of  complaisance 
to  his  brother,  thus  beheld  with  indifference  the  liberties 
of  mankind  sacrificed,  and  the  blood  of  princes  unjustly 
spilt,  was  preparing  to  lead  a  new  army  against  the  infi- 
dels. He  hoped  to  make  a  convert  of  the  king  of  Tunis'; 
and,  for  that  purpose,  landed  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
sword  in  hand,  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  But  the  Mus- 
sulman refused  to  embrace  Christianity :  the 
A.  D. 1270  .  .  . 

French  army  was  seized  with  an  epidemical 

distemper,  of  which  Lewis  beheld  one  of  his  sons  expire, 

^^    and  another  at  the   point  of  death,  when  he 
A  D.  i2ri  .  . 

was  seized  with  it  himself,  and  died  in   the 

fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  son  and  successor, 
Philip,  recovered;  kept  the  field  against  the  Moors; 
and  saved  the  remains  of  the  French  army,  which  pro- 
cured him  the  name  of  the  Hardy'^.  But  the  reign  of 
this  prince  must  not  at  present  engage  our  attention:  we 
must  return  to  the  affairs  of  Spain,  which  had  still  little 
connexion  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  but  was  every  day 
rising  into  consequence. 

13.  Joinville,  ubi  sup.     Mezerav,  torn.  iii.     Henault,  tom^  i. 


LETTER 


tET.  XXXIV.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  385 


LETTER  XXXIV. 


SPAIN,  FROM  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  TO  THE  £ND  OF 
THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 


VV E  left  Spain,  my  deaf  Plilip,  towards  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eleventh  century,  dismembered  by  the 
Moors  and  Christians,  and  both  a  prey  to  civil  wars. 
About  that  time  Ferdinand,  son  of  Sancho,  surnamed 
the  Great,  king  of  Navarre  and  Arragon,  reunited  to 

his  dominions  Old  Castile,  together  with  the       _    h^no-- 
1  •       ,  r  T  1-11.  1    r  u-    ^'^'  1037. 

kingdom  oi   Leon,   which  he  took^irom  his 

brother-in-law,  whom  he  slew  in  battle.      Castile  theu 
b^caiwie  a  kingdom,  and  Leon  one  of  its  provinces^. 

In  the  reign  of  this  Ferdinand  lived  Don  Roderigo, 
surnamed  the  Cid,  who  actually  married  Chimene, 
whose  father  he  had  murdered.  They  who  know  no- 
thing of  this  history,  but  from  the  celebrated  tragedy 
written  by  Corneille,  suppose  that  Ferdinand  was  in 
possession  of  Andalusia.  The  Cid  began  his  famous 
exploits  by  assisting  Don  Sa'ncho,  Ferdinand's  eldest 
son,  to  strip  his  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  .  .  „,, 

.        '     ,  ,     r       1  1  1      •      r     1  1  ^'^'  1072. 

inheritance  leit  them  by  their  lather;   but 
Sancho  being  murdered  in  one  of  these  unjust  expe- 
ditions, his  brothers   entered  again  into  possession  of 
their  estates. 

A  short  digression  will  be  here  necessary.  Besides 
the  many  kings  at  this  time  in  Spain,  who  amounted 
to  near  the  number  of  twenty,  there  were  also  many 
independent  lo^s,  who  came  on  horse-back  complete- 
ly armed,  and  followed  by  several  stjuires,  to  offer  theit 
service  to  the  princes  and  prin-e^i'sses  engaged  in  war. 

>., 

1.  Mariana,  Hist.  Gen.  de  Espana. 

VOL.  I.  3  H     ,  'A"  "I'ht 


386  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

The  princes  with  whom  these  lords  engaged  girded 
them  with  a  belt,  and  presented  them  with  a  sword, 
with  which  they  gave  them  a  slight  blow  on  the  shoul- 
der; and  hence  the  origin  of  knights-errant,  and  of  the 
number  of  single  combats,  which  so  long  desolated 
Spain. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these  combats  was 
fought  after  the  murder  of  that  king  Sancho,  whose 
death  I  have  just  mentioned,  and  who  was  assassinated 
while  he  was  besieging  his  sister  Auraca  in  the  city 
of  Zamora.  Three  knights  maintained  the  honour  of 
the  infanta  against  Don  Diego  de  Lara,  who  had  ac- 
cused her.  Don  Diego  overthrew  and  killed  two  of 
the  infanta's  knights,  and  the  horse  of  the  third  having 
the  reins  of  his  bridle  cut,  carried  his  master  out  of 
the  lists,  and  the  combat  was  declared  undecided. 

Of  all  the  Spanish  knights,  the  Cid  distinguished 
himself  most  eminently  against  the  Moors.  Several 
knights,  ranged  themselves  under  his  banner;  and  these 
knights,  with  their  squires  and  horsemen,  composed  aa 
army  covered  with  iron,  and  mounted  on  the  most 
beautiful  steeds  in  the  country.  With  this  force  he 
overcame  several  Moorish  kings;  and  having  fortified 
the  city  of  Alcassar,  he  there  erected  a  little  sove- 
reignty. 

But  of  the  various  enterprises  in  which  the  Cid  and 
his  followers  were  engaged,  the  most  gallant  was  the 
siege  of  Toledo,  which  his  master  Alphonso 
VI.  king  of  Old  Castile,  undertook  against 
the  Moors.  The  noise  of  this  siege,  and  the  Cid's  repu- 
tation, brought  many  knights  and  princes  from  France 
and  Italy;  particularly  Raymond,  count  of  Toulouse, 
and  two  princes  of  the  blood-royal  of  France,  of  the 
branch  of  Burgundy.  The  Moorish  king,  named 
Hiaya,  was  the  son  of  Almanaon,  one  of  the  most  gene- 
rous princes  mentioned  in  history,^  and  who  had 
afforded  an  asylum,  in  this  very  city  of  Toledo,  to  Al- 
phonso, when  persecuted  byhis  brother  Sancho.  They 
had  lived  together  for  a  long  time  in  strict  friendship; 
and  Almamon  was    so  far  from  detaining  Alphonso, 

when 


LET.  XXXIV.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  S97 

when  he  became  king,  by  the  death  of  Sancho,  that  he 
gave  him  part  of  his  treasures,  and  they  shed  tears,  ii 
is  said,  at  parting.  But  the  spirit  of  those  times  made 
every  thing  lawful  against  infidels,  and  even  meritori- 
ous. Several  Moorish  princes  went  out  of  the  city  to 
reproach  Alphonso  with  his  ingratitude,  and  many  re- 
markable combats  were  fought  under  the  walls. 

This  siege  lasted  a  whole  year ;  at  the  end  of  which 

Toledo    capitulated;   on   condition   that   the  .„„- 

Tix  11,       .        ,    .        ...  ,  ,  A.  D.  1085. 

Moors  should  enjoy  their  religion  and  laws, 

and  suffer  no  injury  in  their  persons  or  property^.  All 
New  Castile,  in  a  short  time,  yielded  to  the  Cid,  who 
took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  Alphonso;  and 
Madrid,  a  small  place,  which  was  one  day  to  become 
the  capital  of  Spain,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians. 
Immediately  after  the  reduction  of  Toledo,  Alphonso 
called  an  assembly  of  bishops,  who,  without  the  con- 
currence of  the  people,  formerly  thought  necessary,  pro- 
moted a  priest  named  Bernard  to  the  bishopric  of  that 
city;  and  Pope  Urban  II.  at  the  king's  request,  made 
him  primate  of  Spain.  The  king  and  the  pope  were  also 
anxious  to  establish  the  Roman  liturgy  and  ritual  in  place 
of  the  Gothic,  or  Musarabic,  hitherto  in  use.  The 
Spaniards  contended  zealously  for  the  ritual  of  their  an- 
cestors: the  pope  urged  them  to  receive  that  which  he 
had  given  his  infallible  sanction:  a  violent  squabble 
arose;  and,  to  the  disgrace  of  human  reason,  a  religious 
opinion  was  referred  to  the  decision  of  the  sword.  Two 
knights  accordingly  entered  the  lists  in  complete  armour. 
The  Musarabic  champion  was  victorious;  but  the  king 
and  the  archbishop  had  influence  enough  to  get  a  new 
trial  appointed,  though  contrary  to  all  the  laws  of  com- 
bat. The  next  appeal  was  to  God  by  fire.  A  fire  being 
prepared  for  that  purpose,  a  copy  of  each  liturgy  was  cast 
into  the  flames.  The  fire,  most  likely,  respected  neither; 
but  authority  prevailed.   The  Roman  liturgy  was  ordered 

2.  Rod.  Tolet.  de  Rcb.  Hut.    Mariana,  ubi  sup.  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Kspana, 

to 


388  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

to  be  received ;  yet  some  churches  were  permitted  to  re- 
tain the  Musarabic^. 

Alphonso,  either  from  policy  or  inclination,  augment- 
ed the  dominions  which  he  had  acquired  through  the 
valour  of  the  Cid,  by  marrying  Zaid,  daughter  of  Aben- 
habet,  the  Mahometan  king  of  Seville,  with  whom  he 
received  several  towns  in  dowry:  and  he  is  reproached 
with  having,  in  conjunction  with  his  father-in-law,  invited 
the  Miramolin  of  Africa  into  Spain.  But  be  that  as  it 
may,  the  Miramolin  came;  and,  instead  of  assisting,  as 
was  expected,  the  king  of  Seville,  in  reducing 
'  '  the  petty  Moorish  princes,  he  turned  his  arms 
against  Abenhabet,  took  the  city  of  Seville,  and  became 
a  dangerous  neighbour  to  Alphonso*. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Cid,  at  the  head  of  his  army 
of  knights,  subdued  the  kingdom  of  Valentia.  Few 
kings  in  Spain  were,  at  that  time,  so  powerful  as  he; 
yet  he  never  assumed  the  regal  title,  but  continued 
faithful  to  his  master  Alphonso.  He  governed  Valentia, 
however,  with  all  the  authority  of  a  sovereign,  receiving 
ambassadors,  and  being  treated  with  the  highest  respect 
by  all  nations.  Aftex-  his  denth,  which  happened  in  1096, 
the  kings  of  Castile  and  Arragon  continued  their  wars 
against  the  infidels ;  and  Spain  was  more  drenched  in 
blood  than  ever,  and  more  desolated. 

Alphonso,    surnamed  the  Battle-giver,   king  of  Na- 
varre and  Arragon,  took  Saragossa  from  the 
*  Moors;  and  that  city,  which  afterwards  be- 
came  the    capital   of   the    kingdom   of  Arragon,   never 
again  returned   under  the  dominion  of  the  infidels.    He 
was    continually   at  war    either    with  the   Christians  or 
Mahometans;    and  the  latter  gained  a  complete   victory 
over  him,  whii  h  mortified  him  so  much,  that 
he  died  of  chagrin,  leaving  his  kingdom,  by 
will,  to  the  Knights  Templars.     This  was  bequeathing  a 
civil  war  as  his  last  legacy.    The  testament  was  esteemed 

5.  Id.  ibid.  4.  Rod.  Tolet,  de  Eeb.  Jtisp- 

valid; 


LET.  XXXIV.]    MODERN  EUROPE.  389 

valid;  but  fortunately  these  knights  were  not  in  a  condi- 
tion to  enforce  it;  and  the  states  of  Arragon  chose  for 
their  king  Garcias  Remiero,  brother  to  the  deceased 
monarch.  He  had  led  a  monastic  life  for  upwards  of  forty 
years,  and  proved  incapable  of  governing.  The  people 
of  Navarre  therefore  chose  another  king,  descended 
from  their  ancient  monarchs ;  and,  by  this  division,  both 
these  states  became  a  prey  to  the  Moors.  They  were 
saved  by  the  timely  assistance  of  Alphonso  VII.  king 
of  Castile;  who  had  obtained  many  victories  over  the 
infidels,  and  in  return  for  his  protection  received  the 
city  of  Saragossa  from  the  Arragonese,  and  the  homage 
of  the  king  of  Navarre.  This  success  so  much  elated 
Alphonso,  that  he  assumed  the  title  of  emperor  of 
Spain5. 

Alphonso  Henriquez,  count  of  Portugal,  received 
about  this  time  the  title  of  king  from  his  soldiers,  after  a 
victory  obtained  over  the  Moors;  and  he  took  Lisbon 
from  them  by  the  assistance  of  the  crusaders,  as  has  been 
already  mentioned.     On  this  occasion  pope  i-»Ar 

Alexander  III.  steady  to  the  policy  of  his 
predecessors,  took  advantage  of  the  papal  maxim.   That 
all  countries  conquered  from   the   infidels  belong  to   the 
holy  see,  to  assert  his  superiority  over  Portugal;   and 
Alphonso  politically  allowed   him  an  annual  ^ 

tribute  of  two  marks  of  gold,  on  receiving  a 

bull  from  Rome  confirming  his  regal  dignity,  and  his  in- 
fallible right  to  that  territory*^. 

A  very  few  efforts  would  now  have  been  sufficient  to 
have  driven  the  Moors  entirely  out  of  Spain;  but  for 
that  purpose  it  was  necessary  that  the  Spanish  Christians 
should  be  united  among  themselves,  whereas  they  were 
unhappily  engaged  in  perpetual  wars  one  with  ^ 

another.     They    united,    however,  at  length, 
from  a  sense  of  common  danger,  and  also  implored  the 
assistance  of  the  other  Christian  princes  ^Europe. 

5.  Id.  ibid.  6.  KeufviUe,   HUt.  Gcifde  Port. 

IMahomet 


390      •  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Mahomet  Ben  Joseph,  Miramolin  of  Africa,  having 
crossed  the  sea  with  an  army  of  near  one  hundred 
thousand  men,  and  being  joined  by  the  Moors  in  An- 
dalusia, assured  himself  of  making  an  entire  conquest  of 
Spain.  The  rumour  of  this  great  armament  roused  the 
attention  of  the  whole  European  continent.  Many  adven- 
turers came  from  all  quarters.  To  these  the  kings  of 
Castile,  Arragon,  and  Navarre,  united  their  forces:  the 
kingdom  of  Portugal  also  furnished  a  body  of 
*  troops;  and  the  Christian  and  Mahometan  ar- 
mies met  in  the  defiles  of  the  Black  Mountain,  or  Sierra 
Morena,  on  the  borders  of  Andalusia,  and  in  the  province 
of  Toledo.  Alphonso  the  Noble,  king  of  Castile,  com- 
manded the  centre  of  the  Christian  army:  the  archbishop 
of  Toledo  carried  the  cross  before  him.  The  Miramolin 
CLCcupied  the  same  place  in  the  Moorish  army:  he  was 
dressed  in  a  rich  robe,  with  the  Koran  in  one  hand,  and 
a  sabre  in  the  other.  The  battle  was  long  and  obstinately 
disputed,  but  at  length  the  Christians  prevailed^:  and  the 
sixteenth  of  July,  the  day  on  which  the  victory  was 
gained,   is  still  celebrated  in  Toledo. 

The  consequences  of  this  victory,  however,  were 
not  so  great  as  might  have  been  expected.  The  Moors 
of  Andalusia  were  strengthened  by  the  remains  of  the 
African  arm)^,  while  that  of  the  Christians  was  imme- 
diately dispersed.  Almost  all  the  knights,  who  had  been 
present  at  the  battle,  returned  to  their  respective  homes 
as  soon  as  it  Avas  over.  But  although  the  Christians 
seemed  thus  to  neglect  their  true  interest,  by  allowing 
the  Mahometans  time  to  recruit  themselves,  the  Moors 
employed  that  time  more  to  their  own  hurt  than  the 
Christians  could,  if  united  against  them.  All  the  Moorish 
states,  both  in  Spain  and  Africa,  were  rent  in  pieces  by 
civil  dissentions,  and  a  variety  of  new  sovereigns  sprung 
Up,  which  entirely  broke  the  power  of  the  infidels. 

7.  Rod.  Tolet.  de  Feb.  HUp. 

The 


tET.  XXXIV.]     MODERN   EUROPE.  39t 

The  period  seemed   therefore  arrived,  to  use  the 
language  of  that  haughty  and  superstitious  nation,  marked 
out  by  Heaven  for  the  glory  of  Spain,  and  the  expulsion 
of  the  Moors.    Ferdinand  III.  styled  by  his  countrymen 
St.  Ferdinand,  took  from  the    infidels   the 
famous   city  of  Cordova,   the   residence  of     *     * 
the  first  Moorish  kings;    and  James  I.  of  Arragon  dis- 
possessed them  of  the  island  of  Majorca,  and 
drove  them  out  of  the  fine  kingdom  of  Vulen- 
tia.    St.  Ferdinand  also  subdued  the  province  of  Murcia, 
and  made  himself  master  of  Seville,  the  most 
opulent  city  belonging  to  the  Moors^.  Death 
at   length  put  an  end  to  his  conquests:    and  if  divine 

honours  are  due  to  those  who  have    been  the  ^    ^_ 

J   ,.  r  1     •  o      •     •       1  A.  D.  1252» 

deliverers  ot  their  country.  Spam  justly  rever- 
ences the  name  of  Ferdinand  III. 

Alphonso,  surnamed  the  Astronomer,  or  the  Wise, 
the  son  of  St.  Ferdinand,  likewise  exalted  the  glory  of 
Spain  J  but  in  a  manner  very  different  from  that  of  his 
father.  This  prince,  who  rivalled  the  Arabians,  in  the 
sciences,  digested  the  celebrated  Spanish  code,  called 
Las  Portidas;  and  under  his  inspection  those  astronomi- 
cal tables  were  drawn  up,  which  still  bear  his  name,  and 
do  honour  to  his  memory.  In  his  old  age  he  saw  his  son 
Sancho  rebel  against  him,  and  was  reduced  to  the  dis- 
agreeable necessity  of  leaguing  with  the  Moors  against 
his  own  blood,  and  his  rebellious  Christian 
subjects.  This  was  not  the  first  alliance  which     '    *  ' 

Christians    had  entered  into  with  Mahometans  against 
Christians;  but  it  was  certainly  the  most  excusable. 

Alphonso  invited  to  his  assistance  the  Miramolin  of 
Africa,  who  immediately  crossed  the  sea;  and  the  two 
monarchs  met  at  Zara,  on  the  confines  of  Granada.  The 
behaviourand  speech  of  the  Miramolin,  on  this  occasion, 
deserves  to  be  transmitted  to  the  latest  posterity.  He 
gave  the  place  of  honour  to  Alphonso  at  meeting:    "  I 

8.  Id.  ibiil 

"  treat 


392  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r* 

*'  treat  you  thus,  said  he,  because  you  are  unfortunate; 
*'  and  enter  into  alliance  with  you  merely  to  revenge  the 
"  common  cause  of  all  kings  and  all  fathers?." 

The  rebels  were  overcome;  but  the  good  old  king 

died  before  he  had  time  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  victory: 

and   the  Miramolin   being  obliged  to  return  to   Africa, 

^  ^^_    the  unnatural  Sancho  succeeded  to  the  crown 

A.D.  1303.   .  ...  ^  rr        •  c  c 

m  prejudice  to  the  oiisprmg  ot  a  lormer 
marriage.  He  even  reigned  happily;  and  his  son  Ferdi- 
nand IV.  took  Gibraltar  from  the  Moors^''. 

This  Ferdinand  is  called  by  the  Spanish  historians 
the  Summoned;  and  the  reason  they  assign  for  it  is  some- 
what remarkable.  Having  ordered  two  noblemen,  in  a 
fit  of  anger,  to  be  thrown  from  the  top  of  a  rock,  those 
noblemen,  before  they  were  pushed  off,  summoned  him 
to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  within  a  month,  at  the 
end  of  which  he  died^^  It  is  to  be  wished,  as  Voltaire 
very  justly  observes,  that  this  story  were  true;  or  at  least 
believed  to  be  so  by  all  princes  who  think  they  have  a 
right  to  follow  their  own  imperious  wills  at  the  expensa 
of  the  lives  of  their  fellow-creatures. 

These  are  the  circumstances  most  worthy  of  notice 
in  the  history  of  Spain  during  the  period  here  examined. 
We  must  now  take  a  view  of  the  progress  of  Society. 


LETTER  XXXV. 


PROGRESS   OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE  DURING    THE   TWELFTH   AND 
THIRTEENTH  CENTURIES. 

X  OU  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  let- 
ters begin  to  revive,  and  manners  to  soften,  about  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century.      But  the  progress  of 

9.  Ferreras  et  Mariana,  ubi  supra.  10.  Ibid. 

11.  Ferreras,  H  it  Lspana. 

refinement 


iiT.  XXXV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  S93 

refinement  was  slow  during  the  two  succeeding  centu- 
ries and  often  altogether  obstructed  by  monastic  auste- 
rities, theological  disputes,  ecclesiastical  broils,  and  the 
disorders  of  the  feudal  anarchy.  Society,  however,  made 
many  beneficial  advances,  before  the  close  of  this  period. 
These  I  shall  endeavour  distinctly  to  trace. 

The  influence  of  the  spirit  of  chivalry  on  manners; 
as  we  have  seen,  was  great  and  singular;  it  enlarged  the 
generosities  of  the  human  heart,  and  soothed  its  fero- 
city. But  being  unhappily  blended  with  superstition,  it 
became  itself  the  means  of  violence;  armed  one  half  of 
the  species  against  the  other,  and  precipitated  Europe 
upon  Asia.  I  allude  to  the  crusades.  Yet  these  ro- 
mantic expeditions,  though  barbarous  and  destructive  in 
themselves,  were  followed  by  many  important  conse- 
quences, equally  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity and  of  the  individual.  All  adventurers  who 
assumed  the  cross  being  taken  under  the  immediate 
protection  of  the  church,  and  its  heaviest  anathemas 
denounced  against  such  as  should  molest  their  persons 
or  their  property,  private  hostilities  were  for  a  time  sus- 
pended or  extinguished:  the  feudal  sovereigns  became 
more  powerful,  and  their  vassals  less  turbulent;  a  more 
steady  administration  of  justice  was  introduced,  and 
some  advances  were  made  towards  regular  government. 

The  commercial  effects  of  the  crusades  were  no  less 
considerable  than  their  political  influence.  Many  ships 
were  necessary  to  transport  the  prodigious  armies  which 
Europe  poured  forth,  and  also  to  supply  them  with 
provisions.  These  ships  were  principally  furnished  by 
the  Venetians,  the  Pisans,  and  the  Genoese;  who  ac- 
quired by  that  service,  immense  sums  of  money,  and 
cj)ened  to  themselves,  at  the  same  time,  a  new  source 
of  wealth,  by  importing  into  Europe  the  commodities  of 
Asia.  A  taste  for  these  commodities  became  general. 
The  Italian  cities  grew  rich,  powerful,  and  obtained 
extensive  privileges.  Some  of  them  erected  themselves 
into    sovereignties,  others   into    corporations,   or   inde- 

VOL.  I.  3  I  pendent 


994  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part,  i, 

pendent  communities';  and  the  establishment  of  those 
comnuiiiiiit's  may  be  considered  as  the  first  great  step 
towards  ;jviii?'ition  in  modern  Europe. 

This  subject  requires  your  particular  attention.  The 
feudal  government,  as  I  have  frequently  had  occasion  to 
observe,  had  degenerated  into  a  system  of  oppression. 
The  nobles  had  reduced  the  great  body  of  the  people  to 
a  state  of  actual  servitude,  and  the  condition  of  those 
denominated  free,  was  little,  if  at  ail,  more  desirable. 
Not  only  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  but  even  whole 
cities  and  villages  held  of  some  great  lord,  on  whom 
they  depended  for  protection;  and  the  citiEens  were 
no  less  subject  to  his  arbitrary  jurisdiction,  than  those 
employed  in  cultivating  the  estates  of  their  masters.  Ser« 
vices  of  various  kinds,  equally  disgraceful  and  oppres* 
sive,  were  exacted  from  them,  without  mercy  or  mode- 
ration: and  they  were  deprived  of  the  most  natural  and 
unalienable  rights  of  humanity.  They  could  not  dispose 
of  their  effects  by  will,  appoint  guardians  to  their  chiU 
dren,  or  even  marry  without  the  consent  of  their  supe- 
rior lord''. 

Men,  in  such  a  condition,  had  few  motives  to  indus- 
tr)'.  Accordingly  we  find  all  the  cities  of  Europe,  before 
their  enfranchisement,  equally  poor  and  wretched.  But 
no  sooner  were  they  formed  into  bodies  politic,  govern- 
ed by  magistrates  chosen  from  among  their  own  mem- 
bers, than  the  spirit  of  industry  revived,  and  commerce 
began  to  flourish.  Population  increased  with  indepen- 
dency; the  conveniencies  of  life,  with  the  ineans  of 
procuring  them:  property  gave  birth  to  statutes  and 
regulations;  a  sense  of  common  interest  enforced  them; 
and  the  more  frequent  occasion  of  intercourse  among 
men  and  kingdoms,  gradually  led  to  a  greater  refinement 
in  manners,  and  tended  to  wear  off  those  national  and 
local  prejudices  which  create  dissension  and  animosit)'' 
between  the  inhabitants  of  different  states  and  provinces. 

1.  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  ii.  2.  Ordon.  des  Eois  de  France, 

torn-  J.  Jii.  Dach.  Spiccleg.  torn.  xi.  Murat.  AnUcjuit,   Ital.  vol.  iv. 

The 


LET.  XXXV.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  S95 

The  manner  in  which  these  immunities  were  obtained, 
was  different  in  the  different  kingdoms  of  Europe*  Some 
ot"  the  Italian  cities,  as  we  have  seen,  acquired  their 
freedom  by  arms,  others  by  money;  and  in  France  and 
Germany,  many  of"  the  great  barons  were  glad  to  sell 
charters  of  liberty  to  the  towns  within  their  jurisdiction, 
in  order  to  repair  the  expense  incurred  by  the  crusades. 
The  sovereigns  also  granted,  or  sold,  like  privileges  to 
the  towns  within  the  royal  domain,  in  order  to  create 
some  power  that  might  counterbalance  their  potent  va.H- 
sals,  who  often  gave  law  to  the  crown\  Tlie  practice 
quickly  spread  over  Europe;  and  before  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  its  beneficial  effects  were  general./ 
felt. 

These  effects  were  no  less  extensive  upon  govern- 
ment than  upon  manners.  Self-preservation  had  obliged 
every  man,  during  several  centuries,  to  court  the  pa- 
tronage of  some  powerful  baron,  whose  castle  was  the 
common  asylum  in  times  of  danger;  but  towns  surround- 
ed with  walls,  and  filled  wih  citizens  trained  to  arms, 
bound  by  interest  as  well  as  the  most  solemn  engage- 
ments, to  protect  each  other,  afforded  a  more  commo- 
dious and  secure  retreat.  The  nobles  became  of  less 
importance,  when  they  ceased  to  be  the  sole  guardians 
of  the  people;  and  the  crown  acquired  an  increase  of 
power  and  consequence,  when  it  no  longer  depended 
entirely  upon  its  great  vassals  for  the  supply  of  its 
armies.  The  cities  contributed  liberally  toward  the 
support  of  the  royal  authority,  as  they  regarded  the 
sovereigns  as  the  authors  of  their  liberty,  and  their 
protectors  against  the  domineering  spirit  of  the  nobles. 
Hence  another  consequence  of  corporation  charters. 

The  inhabitants  of  cities  having  obtained  personal 
freedom  and  municipal  jurisdiction,  soon  aspired  at  civil 
liberty  and  political  power.  And  the  sovereigns,  in 
most  kingdoms,  found  it  necessary  to  admit  them  to  a 

3.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Communia. 

share 


396  THE  HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

share  in  the  legislature,  on  account  of  their  utility  in 
raising  the  supplies  lor  government;  it  being  a  tunda- 
mental  principle  in  the  feudal  policy,  that  no  free  man 
could  be  taxed  but  with  his  own  consent.  The  citizen* 
were  now  free;  and  the  wealth,  the  power,  and  the 
consequence  which  they  acquired  on  recovering  their 
liberty,  added  weight  to  their  claim  to  political  emi- 
nence, and  seemed  to  mark  them  out  as  an  essential 
branch  in  the  constitution.  They  had  it  much  in  their 
power  to  supply  the  exigencies  of  the  crown,  and  also 
to  repress  the  encroachment  of  the  nobles.  In  England, 
Germany,  and  even  in  France,  where  the  voice  of  liberty, 
is  heard  no  more,  the  representatives  of  communities 
accordingly  obtained,  by  different  means,  a  place  in  the 
national  council,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century*. 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  an  intermediate  power  was 
established  between  the  king  and  nobles,  to  which  each 
had  recourse  alternately,  and  which  sometimes  opposed 
the  one,  and  sometimes  the  other.  It  tempered  the  rigour 
of  aristocratical  oppression  with  a  mixture  of  popular 
liberty,  at  the  same  time  that  it  restrained  the  usurpa- 
tions of  the  crown:  it  secured  to  the  great  body  of  the 
people,  who  had  formerly  no  representatives,  active  and 
powerful  guardians  of  their  rights  and  liberties;  and  it 
entirely  changed  the  spirit  of  the  laws,  by  introducing 
into  the  statutes,  and  the  jurisprudence  of  the  European 
nations,  ideas'  of  equality,   order,  and  public  good. 

To  this  new  power  that  part  of  the  people  still  in 
servitude,  the  villains,  who  resided  in  the  country,  and 
were  employed  in  agi-iculture,  looked  up  for  freedom. 
They  obtained  it,  though  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
feudal  polity.  The  odious  names  of  master  and  slave 
were  abolished.      The  husbandman  became  farmer  of 

4.  M.  I'Abbe  Mahly,  Cbseiveit.  sur  I' Hist,  de  France,  torn.  ii.  Henaiilt 
tem.  i.  Pfeffel.  Ahrege  de  Hist,  et  Droit  d'Alkvia^ne.  Brad/,  Treatise  of 
Boroughs.     Madox,  Firtna  Burgi. 

the 


LET.  XXXV.]        MODERM   EUROPE.  3!)r 

the  same  fields  wliuli  he  had  lormerly  been  compelled 
to  cvdtivate  for  the  benefit  of  another.  He  reaped  a 
share  of  the  fruits  of  his  own  industry.  New  prospects 
opened,  new  incitements  were  offered  to  ingenuity  and 
enterprise.  The  activity  of  genius  was  awakened;  and 
a  numerous  class  of  men,  who  forme:rly  had  no  political 
existence,  were  restored  to  society,  and  augumented  the 
force  and  riches  of  the  state. 

The  second  great  advance  which  society  made  dur- 
ing the  period  under  review,  was  an  approach  towards 
a  more  regular  administration  of  justice.  1  he  barbarous 
nations  who  over-ran  the  Roman  empire,  and  settled  in 
its  provinces,  rejected  the  Roman  jurisprudence,  as  I 
have  had  occasion  to  observe,  with  the  same  contempt 
that  they  spurned  the  Roman  arts.  Both  respected  ob- 
jects of  which  they  had  no  conception,  and  were  adapted 
to  a  state  of  society  with  which  they  were  then  acquaint- 
ed. But  as  civilization  advanced,  they  became  sensi- 
ble of  the  imperfection  of  their  own  institutions,  and 
even  of  their  absurdity.  The  trial  by  ordeal  and  by- 
duel  was  abolished  in  most  countries  before  the  end  of 
the  thirteenth  centur}',  and  various  attempts  were  made 
to  restrain  the  practice  of  private  war;  one  of  the  great- 
est abuses  in  the  feudal  polity,  and  which  struck  at  the 
foundation  of  all  government. 

As  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  was  found 
ineffectual  to  remedy  this  evil,  the  church  interposed; 
and  various  regulations  were  published,  in  order  to  set 
bounds  to  private  hostilities.  But  these  all  proving 
insufficient,  supernatural  means  were  employed:  a  let- 
ter was  sent  from  Heaven  to  a  bishop  of  Aquitaine,  en- 
joining men  to  cease  from  violence,  and  be  reconciled 
to  each  other.  This  revelation  was  published  during 
a  season  of  public  calurnity,  when  men  were  willing  to 
perform  any  thing,  in  order  to  avert  the  v/rath  of  an 
offended  God.  A  general  reconciliation  took  place: 
and  a  resolution  was  formed,   That  no  man  should,  in 

tin\e*. 


398  THE  HISTORY    OF  [part  t* 

times  to  come,  attack  or  molest  his  adversaries  during 
the  seasons  set  apart  for  celebrating  the  great  festivals 
of  the  church,  or  from  the  evening  of  Thursday  in  each 
week,  to  the  morning  of  Monday  in  the  week  ensuing: 
the  intervening  days  being  considered  as  particularly- 
holy,  Christ's  passion  having  happened  on  one  of  those 
days,  and  his  resurrection  on  another.  This  cessation 
from  hostilities  was  called  "  The  Truce  of  God,"  and 
three  complete  days,  in  every  week,  allowed  such  a 
considerable  space  for  the  passions  of  the  antagonists  to 
cool,  and  for  the  people  to  enjoy  a  respite  from  the 
calamities  of  war,  as  well  as  to  take  measures  for  their 
own  security,  that  if  the  Truce  of  God  had  been  ex- 
actly observed,  it  must  have  gone  far  towards  putting 
an  end  to  private  wars.  That,  however,  was  not  the 
case;  the  nobles  prosecuted  their  quarrels  as  formerly, 
till  towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  when  a  car- 
penter of  Guienne  gave  out,  that  Jesus  Christ,  together 
with  the  blessed  Virgin,  had  appeared  to  him,  and 
having  com.manded  him,  to  exhort  mankind  to  peace,  had 
given  him,  as  a  proof  of  his  mission,  an  image  of  the 
Virgin  holding  her  sou  in  her  arms,  with  this  inscription 
''  Lamb  of  God,  who  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world, 
"  give  us  peace!"  Tiiis  low  fanatic  was  received  as 
an  inspired  messenger  of  Heaven.  Many  prelates  and 
barons  assembled  at  Puy,  and  took  an  oath,  not  only 
to  make  peace  v/ith  all  their  own  enemies,  bxit  to  attack 
such  as  refused  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  to  be  re- 
conciled to  their  enemies.  They  formed  an  associa- 
tion for  that  purpose,  and  assumed  the  honourable 
name  of"  The  Brotherhood  of  God."  Like  associations 
were  formed  in  other  countries;  and  these,  together 
with  civil  prohibitions,  enforced  by  royal  power,  contri- 
buted to  remove  this  pernicious  ev'iV. 

5.  Du  Cange,  Gloss,  voc.  Treuga.  Du  Mont.  Corfis  Diplomatique, 

torn.  i.  Robertson's  Introd.  Hist.  Cbales  V.  sec.  i.  Hume,  Hist.    England, 

Append,    i. 

When 


IKT.  XXXV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  399 

When  society  was  thus  emerging  from  barbarism, 
and  men  were  become  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  order, 
a  copy  of  Justinian's  Pandects  was  discovered  at  Amal- 
phi,  in  Italy;  and  although  the  age  had  still  too  little 
taste  to  relish  the  beauty  of  the  Roman  classics,  it  im- 
mediately perceived  the  merit  of  a  system  of  laws,  in 
which  ail  the  points  most  interesting  to  mankind  were 
settled  with  precision,  discernment,  and  equity.  All 
men  of  letters  were  struck  with  admiration  at  the  wis- 
dom of  the  ancients:  the  Justinian  code  was  studied 
with  eagerness;  the  professors  at  civil  law  were  ap- 
pointed, who  taught  this  new  science  in  most  countries 
of  Europe. 

The  effect  of  studying  and  imitating  so  perfect  a 
model,  were,  as  might  be  expected,  great.  Fixed  and 
general  laws  were  established;  the  principles  and  the 
forms  by  which  judges  should  regulate  their  decisions, 
were  ascertained  ;  the  feudal  law  was  reduced  into  a 
regular  system;  the  canon  law  was  methodised;  the 
loose  uncertain  customs  of  different  provinces  or  king- 
doms were  collected  and  arranged  with  order  and  ac- 
curacy. And  these  improvements  in  the  system  of 
jurisprudence  had  an  extensive  influence  upon  society. 
They  gave  rise  to  a  distinction  of  professions. 

Among  rude  nations  no  profession  is  honourable 
but  that  of  arms ;  and,  as  the  functions  of  peace  are 
few  and  simple,  war  is  the  only  study.  Such  had  been 
the  state  of  Europe  during  several  centuries.  But  when, 
law  became  a  science,  the  knowledge  of  which  required 
a  regular  course  of  studies,  together  with  long  attention 
to  the  practice  of  courts,  a  new  order  of  men  naturally 
acquired  consideration  and  influence  in  society.  Another 
profession  beside  that  of  arms  was  introduced,  and  re- 
puted honourable  among  the  laity:  the  talents  requisite 
for  discharging  it  were  cultivated  ;  the  arts  and  virtues 
of  peace  were  placed  in  their  proper  rank  ;  and  the 
people  of  Europe  became  accustomed  to  see  men  rise  to 
eminence  by  civil  as  well  as  military  employment''. 

6.  Montesquieu,  V Esprit  de*  Loix,  Vxv.  xxviii.  Hume,  Hist.  England 
<phap.  xx'ii.  Robertson,  Introd.  Charles  V.  sec.  i. 

The 


400  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The  study  of  the  Roman  law  had  also  a  considerable 
influence  upon  letters.  The  knowledge  of  a  variety  of 
sciences  became  necessary,  in  order  to  expound  with 
judgment  the  civil  code;  and  the  same  passion  which 
made  nftn  prosecute  the  juridical  science  with  so  much 
ardour,  made  them  anxious  to  excel  in  every  branch  of 
literature.  Colleges  and  universities  were  founded,  a 
regular  course  of  studies  was  planned,  and  a  regular  set 
ot  professors  established.  Privileges  of  great  value 
were  conferred  upon  masters  and  scholars  ;  academical 
titles  and  honours  were  invented,  as  rewards  for  the 
different  deforces  of  literary  eminence;  and  an  incredible 
number  of  students,  allured  by  these  advantages,  resort- 
ed to  the  new  seats  of  learning^. 

But  a  false  taste  unhappily  infected  all  those  semi- 
naries, which  is  thus  ingeniously  accounted  for  by  a 
learned  and  inquisitive  writer: — Most  of  the  persons 
who  attempted  to  revive  literature  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  had  received  instruction,  and  deriv- 
ed their  principle  of  science,  from  the  Greeks  in  the 
eastern  empire,  or  the  Arabs  in  Spain  and  Africa. 
Both  these  people,  acute  and  inquisitive  to  excess, 
corrupted  the  sciences  which  they  cultivated.  1"he 
Greeks  rendered  theology  a  system  of  speculati\e  re- 
tinement  or  endless  controversy;  and  the  Arabs  com- 
municated to  philosophy  a  metaphysical  and  frivolous 
subtlet)'.  Misled  b)-  these  guides,  the  persons  who  first 
applied  to  science  were  involved  in  a  maze  of  intricate 
inquiries.  Instead  of  allowing  their  fancy  to  take  its  natu- 
ral range,  and  produce  such  works  of  elegant  invention  as 
might  have  improved  the  taste,  and  refined  the  senti- 
ments of  the  age;  instead  of  cultivating  those  arts  which 
embellish  human  life,  and  render  it  delightful,  they 
spent  the  whole  force  of  their  genius  in  speculations  as 
unavailing  as  they  were  difficult'^ 

7.  Id.  ibid.         8    Robertson,  ubi  sup. 

But 


LET.  XXXV.]       MODERN  EUROPE.  401 

But  fruitless  and  ill-directed  as  these  speculations 
were,  their  novelty  roused,  and  their  boldness  engaged 
the  human  mind;  and  although  science  was  further  cir- 
cumscribed in  its  influence,  and  prevented  during  several 
ages  from  diffusing  itself  through  society,  by  being  de- 
livered in  the  Latin  tongue,  its  progress  deserves  to  be 
mentioned,  as  one  of  the  great  causes  which  contributed 
to  introduce  a  change  of  manners  into  modern  Europe. 
That  ardent,  though  mistaken  spirit  of  of  inquiry  which 
prevailed,  put  ingenuity  and  invention  in  motion,  and 
gave  them  vigour:  it  led  men  to  a  new  employment  of 
their  faculties,  which  they  found  to  be  agreeable  as  well 
as  interesting;  it  accustomed  them  to  exercises  and 
occupations  that  tended  to  soften  their  manners,  and  to 
give  them  some  relish  for  those  gentle  virtues,  which 
are  peculiar  to  nations  among  whom  science  has  been 
successfully  cultivated. 

Some  ages  indeed  elapsed  before  taste,  order,  and 
politeness  were  restored  to  society:  but  anarchy  and 
barbarism  gradually  disappeared  with  ignorance;  the 
evils  of  life,  with  its  crimes:  and  public  and  private 
happiness  grew  daily  better  understood;  until  Europe 
(wisely  governed!)  came  to  enjoy  all  those  advantages, 
pleasures,  amusements,  and  tender  sympathies,  which 
are  necessary  to  alleviate  the  pains  inseparable  from, 
existence,  and  soothe  the  sorrows  allied  to  humanity. 


yoL.  I.  3«:  LKTTER 


402  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

LETTER  XXXVI. 

ENGLAND,  DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  EDWARD  I.  WITH  AN  INTRO- 
DUCTION TO  THE  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND;  SOME  ACCOUNT 
OF  THE  CONQUEST  OF  THAT  COUNTRY  EY  TME  ENGLISH, 
AND  THE  FINAL   REDUCTION  OF   AVALES. 

JL  HE  reign  of  Edward  I.  my  dear  Philip,  as 
already  observed,  forms  a  new  sera  in  the  history  of 
Britain.  I  must  now  make  you  sensible  what  entitles 
it  to  that  distinction. 

As  soon  as  Edward  returned  to  England  (where  his 
authority  was  firmly  established,  by  his  high 
character  both  at  home  and  abroad),  he  ap-- 
plied  himself  assiduously  to  the  correcting  of  thoses 
disorders,  which  the  civil  commotions,  and  the  loose; 
administration  of  his  father,  had  introduced  into  every 
part  of  government.  His  policy,  though  severe,  was 
equally  liberal  and  prudent.  By  an  exact  distribution  of 
justice,  and  a  rigid  execution  of  the  laws,  he  gave  at 
once  protection  to  the  inferior  orders  of  the  state,  and 
diminished  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  nobles.  He  made 
it  a  rule  in  his  own  conduct  to  observe,  except  upon 
extraordinary  occasions,  the  privileges  secured  to  the 
barons  by  the  Great  Charter,  and  he  insisted  on  their 
observance  of  the  same  charter  towards  their  vassals; 
he  made  the  crown  be  regarded  as  the  grand  fountain 
of  justice,  and  the  general  asylum  against  violence  and 
oppression.  By  these  wise  measures,  the  state  of  the 
kingdom  was  soon  wholly  changed;  order  and  tranquil- 
lity were  restored  to  society,  and  vigour  to  govern- 
ment'. 

Now  it  was,  that  the  enterprising  spirit  of  Edward 

^      ^    bej^an  more  remarkably  to  shev/  itself.     He 
A.  D.l2r6.       J     ,     ,  ,.  .  •         T         11 

undertook  an   expedition  against  Lewellyn, 

1.  M.  West.     T.  Walsingham. 

prince 


LET.  xxxYi.]      MODERN  EUROPE.  405 

prince  of  Wales,  who  had  formerly  joined  the  rebellious 
barons,  and  whose  two  brothers,  David  and  Roderic, 
had  fled  to  Edward  for  protection;  craving  his  assi.stance 
to  recover  their  possessions,  and  seconding  his  attempts 
to  enslave  their  native  country. 

The  Welsh  prince  had  no  resource  against  the  su- 
perior force  of  Edward  but  the  inaccessible  situation  of 
his  mountains,  which  had  hitherto  protected  his  fore- 
fathers against  all  the  attempts  of  the  Saxon  and  Normsid/ 
conquerors.  He  accordingly  retired  with  the  bravest  of 
his  subjects  among  the  hills  of  Snowdon.  But  Edward, 
no  less  vigorous  than  cautious,  pierced  into  the  heart  of 
the  country,  and  approached  the  Welsh  army  in  its  last 
retreat.  Having  carefully  secured  every  pass  behind 
him,  he  avoided  putting  to  trial  the  valour  of  a  nation 
proud  of  its  ancient  independency.       He  trusted  to  the 

more  slow  but  sure  effects  of  famine  for  suc- 

A.  D.  1277. 
cess;  and  Lewellyn  was  at  length  obliged  to 

submit,  and  receive  the  terms  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
English  monarch^. 

These  terms,  though  sufficiently  severe,  were  but  ill 
observed  by  the  victors.  The  English  oppressed  and 
insulted  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts  which  were  yield- 
ed to  them.  I'he  indignation  of  the  Welsh  was  roused: 
they  flew  to  arms;  and  Edward  again  entered  Wales  with 
an  array,  not  displeased  with  the  occasion  of  making 
his  conquest  final.  This  army  he  committed  to  the 
command  of  Roger  Mortimer,  while  he  himself  waited 
the  event  in  the  castle  of  Rudhlan;  and  Lewellyn,  having 

ventured  to  leave  his  fastnesses,  was  defeated  ^^   ^ 

,       Ti/r        •  11-  -  •  u  ^-  D-  1283. 

by  Mortimer,   and  slam,   together  with  two 

thousand  of  his  followers.  All  the  Welsh  nobility  sub- 
mitted to  Edward,  and  the  laws  of  England  were  estab- 
lished in  that  principality^ 

In  order  to  preserve  his  conquest,  Edward  had 
cecourse  to  a  barbarous   policy.      He   ordered    David, 

2.  T.  Wykes.  3.  T.  Walsinghani.     T.  Wykes,  Annal.  TVaiieiL 

Powel,  Hist.  Wales. 

brother 


404  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

brother  to  Lewellyn,  and  his  successor  in  the  principa- 
lity of  Wales,  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered,  as  a 
traitor,  for  taking  arms  in  defence  of  his  native  country, 
which  he  had  once  unhappily  deserted,  and  for  maintain- 
ing by  force  his  own  hereditary  authority.  He 
*  also  ordered  all  the  Welsh  bards  to  be  collect- 
ed together  and  put  to  death ;  from  a  belief,  and  no  absurd 
one,  that  he  should  more  easily  subdue  the  independent 
6  Irit  of  the  people,  when  their  minds  ceased  to  be 
roused  by  the  ideas  of  military  valour  and  ancient 
glory,  preserved  in  the  traditional  poems  of  these  min- 
strels,and  recited  or  sung  by  them  on  all  public  occasions 
and  days  of  festivity''. 

Edward's  conduct,  in  regard  to  Scotland,  at  which 
his^ambition  now  pointed,  is  little  more  excusable.  But 
several  things  must  be  premised,  my  dear  Philip,  before 
I  proceed  to  his  transactions  with  that  country. 

On  the  final  departure  of  the  Romans  from  this 
island,  you  have  seen  the  Scots  and  Picts,  its  northern 
inhabitants,  ravaging  South  Britain.  Thty  were  repelled, 
but  not  subdued  by  the  Saxons;  and  the  first  Norman 
princes  were  too  much  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  the 
continent  to  push  their  conquests  beyond  the  Tweed. 
Meanwhile  fierce  and  bloody  wars  were,  during  several 
ages,  carried  on  between  the  Scots  and  Picts,  and 
Kenneth  II.  the  sixty-ninth  Scottish  king,  according  to 
tradition,  had  obtained,  in  838,  a  complete  victory 
over  the  Picts,  and  united  into  one  monarchy  the  whole 
country  at  present  known  by  the  name  of  North  Britain. 
The  Scots  thenceforth  became  more  formidable;  and 
having  less  business  on  their  hands  at  home,  were  always 
ready  to  join  the  English  malecontents,  and  made 
frequent  incursions,  into  the  bordering  counties.  In  one 
of  these  incursions,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  notice, 
William  king  of  Scotland  was  taken  prisoner;  and  Henry 
I.  as  the  price  of  his  liberty,    not  only  extorted  from  him 

4.  Sir  J.  Wynne. 

an 


LfiT.  XXXVI.]      MODERN   EUROPE.  405 

an  exorbitant  ransom,  and  a  promise  to  surrender  the 
places  of  greatest  strength  in  his  dominions,  but  compell- 
ed him  to  do  homage  for  his  whole  kingdom.  Richard  I. 
a  more  generous  but  less  politic  prince  than  his  father, 
solemnly  renounced  his  claim  of  homage,  and  absolved 
William  from  the  other  hard  conditions  which  Henry  had 
imposed.  The  crown  df  Scotland  was  therefore  again 
rendered  independent,  and  the  northern  potentate  only 
did  homage  for  the  fiefs  which  he  enjoyed  in  England, 
(a  circumstance  which  has  occasioned  many  mistakes, 
and  much  dispute  among  historians)  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  king  of  England  himself  swore  fealty  to  the 
French    monarch    for    the    fiefs   which  he   inherited   in 

France.   But  on  the  death  of  Alexander  III.  ^^„- 

r        1  •   •        f  T17-1T  ^-D*  1286. 

near  a  century  alter  the  captivity  ot  VViUiam, 

Edward  I.  availing  himself  of  the  situation  of  affairs  in 
Scotland,  revived  the  claim  of  sovereignty  which  had 
been  renounced  by  Richard^. 

This  is  the  real  state  of  the  controversy  concerning 
the  independency  of  Scotland,  which  took  its  rise  about 
this  time,  and  in  the  following  manner.  As  Alexander 
left  no  male  issue,  nor  any  descendant  except  Margaret 
of  Norway,  his  grand-daughter,  who  did  not  lorg  survive 
him,  the  right  of  succession  belonged  to  the  descendants 
of  David,  earl  of  Huntingdon,  third  son  of  king  David  I. 
Of  that  line,  two  illustrious  competitors  for  the  crown 
appeared:  Robert  Bruce,  son  of  Isabel,  earl  David's 
second  daughter;  and  John  Baliol,  grandson  of  Margaret, 
the  eldest  daughter.  According  to  the  rules  of  succession 
now  established,  BalioPs  right  was  preferable;  he  would 
succeed  as  the  representative  of  his  mother  and  grand- 
mother; and  Bruce's  plea  of  being  one  degree  nearer  the 
common  stock,  would  be  disregarded.  But  in  that  age  the 
question  appeared  no  less  intricate  than  important:  the 
sentiments  of  men  were  divided:  each  claim  was  support- 
ed by  a  powerful  faction;  and  arms  alone,  it  was  feared, 

5.  Buchanan,  Hist.  Seat    lib.  viii.     Ilobevtson,  book  i. 

must 


406  THE   HISTORY  OF  [fart  i. 

roust  terminate  a  dispute  too  weighty  for  the  laws  to 
decide. 

In  this  critical  situation  the  parliament  of  Scotland,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  miseries  of  civil  war,  embraced  the 
dangerous  resolution  of  appealing  to  Edward  I.  He  was 
accordingly  chosen  umpire,  and  both  parties  agreed  to 
acquiesce  in  his  decree.  Now  it  was  that  this  ambitious 
and  enterprising  prince,  already  master  of  Wales,  resolv- 
ed more  determinedly  to  make  himself  lord  of  the 
whole  island  of  Britain,  by  reviving  his  obscure  claim  of 
feudal  superiority  over  Scotland.  Under  pretence  of 
examining  the  question  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  he 

.„- .    summoned   all  the  Scottish  barons  to  attend 
A.  D.  1291.  ,  .      .      ,  1       fivT     1 

nim  m  the  castle  or  JNIorham,  a  place  situated 

on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Tweed;  and  having  gained 
some  and  intimidated  others,  he  prevailed  on  all  who 
were  present,  not  excepting  Bruce  and  Baliol,  the 
two  competitors  for  the  succession,  to  acknowledge  Scot- 
land a  fief  of  the  English  crown,  and  swear  fealty  to  him 
as  their  sovereign  or  liege  lord". 

This  step  led  to  another  still  more  important.  As  it 
was  in  vain  to  pronounce  a  sentence  which  he  had  not 
power  to  execute,  Edward  demanded  possession  of  the 
disputed  kingdom,  that  he  might  be  able  to  deliver  it  to 
him  whose  right  should  be  found  preferable:  and  that 
exorbitant  demand  was  complied  with  both  by  the  barons 
and  the  claimants.  He  soon  after  gave  judgment  in  fa- 
.^^^  vour  of  Baliol,  as  beine  the  least  formidable 
"'  of  the  competitors,  we  are  told,  by  a  respecta- 
ble historian^;  but  in  justice  to  Edward,  I  am  bound  to 
say,  that  his  award,  which  was  no  less  equitable  than 
solemn,  seemed  to  proceed  merely  from  the  state  of  the 
question.  He  not  only  referred  it  to  the  consideration 
of  an  hundred  and  forty  commissioners,  partly  English 
and  partly  Scotch,  but  proposed  it  to  all  the  celebrated 
lawyers  in  Europe,  who  returned  an  uniform  answer  con- 

6.  Rymer,  vol.ii.     \V.  Hemming,  vol.  i.  7.  Robertson,  Hist. 

Scotland,  book  i. 

formablc 


lET.  XXXVI.]        MODERN    EUROPE.  407 

formable  to  the  king's  decree.  Baliol  renewed  the  oath 
of  fealty  to  England,  and  was  put  in  possession  of  the 
kingdom". 

Edward  having  thus  established  his  unjust  claim  of 
feudal  superiority  over  Scotland,  aspired  next  at  the 
absolute  sovereignty  and  dominion  of  that  kingdom.  He 
attempted  to  provoke  Baliol  by  indignities;  to  rouse  him 
to  rebellion,  and  to  rob  him  of  his  crown,  as  the  punish- 
ment of  his  pretended  treason  and  felony.  The 
passive  spirit  of  Baliol  accordingly  began  to  '  *  " 
mutiny;  and  he  entered  into  a  secret  alliance  with  France, 
which  was  already  engaged  in  a  war  with  England,  the 
more  effectually  to  maintain  his  independency. 

The  expenses  attending  these  multiplied  wars  of 
Edward,  and  his  new  preparations  for  reducing  Scotland, 
obliged  him  to  have  frequent  recourse  to  parliamentary 
supplies,  and  introduced  the  lower  orders  of  the  state 
into  the  public  councils.  This  period,  therefore,  the 
twenty-third  year  of  his  reign,  seems  to  be  the  true 
sera  of  the  House  of  Commons:  for -.he  former  precedent 
of  representatives  from  the  boroughs,  summoned  by  the 
earl  of  Leicester,  was  regarded  as  the  act  of  a  violent 
usurpation,  and  had  been  discontinued  in  all  the  sub- 
sequent parliaments.  But  when  the  multiplied  necessities 
of  the  crown  produced  a  greater  demand  for  money, 
than  could  be  conveniently  answered  by  the  common 
mode  of  taxation,  Edward  became  sensible,  that  the 
most  expeditious  way  of  obtaining  supplies  was  to 
assemble  the  deputies  of  all  the  boroughs;  to  lay  before 
them  the  exigencies  of  the  state;  to  discuss  the  matter 
in  their  presence,  and  to  require  their  consent  to  the 
demands  of  their  sovereign.  He  therefore  issued  writs  to 
the  sheriffs,  enjoining  them  to  send  to  parliament,  along 
with  two  knights  of  the  shire,  two  deputies  from  each 
borough  within  their  county,  provided  with  sufficient 
powers  from  their  community,  to  consent  to  what  levies 

8.  Rymer,  vol.  ii.     W-  Herraiiing  vol. 

should 


408  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

should  seem  necessary  for  the  support  of  government. 
*'  As  it  is  a  most  equitable  rule,"  says  he,  in  his  preamble 
to  this  writ,  "  that  what  concerns  all  should  be  approved 
"  of  by  all;  and  common  dangers  be  repelled  by  united 
"  efforts^."  Such  a  way  of  thinking  implies  a  generosity 
of  mind  much  superior  to  what  might  be  expected  from 
Edward's  general  conduct. 

The  aldermen  and  common-council,  after  the  election 
of  these  deputies,  gave  surety  for  their  attendance  before 
the  king  and  parliament;  and  their  charges  were  borne 
by  the  borough  that  sent  them^*'.  How  different  in  that, 
as  well  as  in  other  respects,  from  our  modern  represen- 
tatives ! — Insteadof  checkingand  controlling  the  authority 
of  the  king,  they  were  naturally  induced  to  adhere  to  him, 
as  the  great  fountain  of  justice,  and  to  support  him  against 
the  power  of  the  nobles,  who  at  once  oppressed  them,  and 
disturbed  him  in  the  execution  of  the  laws.  The  king,  in 
his  turn,  gave  countenance  to  an  order  of  men  so  useful, 
and  so  little  dangerous.  The  peers  also  were  obliged  to 
pay  them  some  respect,  on  account  of  their  consequence  as 
a  body.  By  these  means  the  commons,  or  third  estate, 
long  so  abject  in  England,  as  well  as  in  all  other  European 
nations,  rose  gradually  to  their  present  importance;  and, 
in  their  progress,  made  arts  and  commerce,  the  necessary 
attendants  on  liberty  and  equality,  flourish  in  Britain. 

Edward  employed  the  supplies  granted  by  his  people 
in  warlike  preparations   against  his  northern  neighbour. 

He  cited  Baliol,  as  his  vassal,  to  appear  in 
A   D.  1296. 

an  English  parliament,  to  be  held  at  New- 
castle. But  that  prince,  having  now  received  pope 
Celestine's  dispensationfrom  his  oath  of  fealty,  renounced 
the  homage  which  had  been  done  to  England,  and  set 
Edward  at  defiance.  This  bravado  was  but  ill  supported 
by  the  military  operations  of  the  Scots.  Edward  crossed 
the  Tweed  without  opposition,  at  the  head  of  thirty- 
thousand  foot,  and  four  thousand  horse.      Berwick  was 

9.  Bra.dy,  Treatise  of  Jlorougbs,  {rom  the  Records.  10.  Id.  ibid. 

EeliquiiS  Spelm. 

taken 


LtT.  XXXVI.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  409 

taken  by  assault;  the  Scottish  army  was  totally  routed 
near  Uunbar;  the  whole  southern  part  ot  the  kingdom 
was  subdued;  and  the  timid  Baliol,  discontented  with  his 
own  subjects,  and  over-awed  by  the  English,  instead 
of  making  use  of  those  resources  which  were  yet  left, 
hastened  to  make  his  submissions  to  the  conqueror.  He 
expressed  the  deepest  penitence  for  his  dislovaltj'  to  his 
liege  lord;  and  he  made  a  solemn  and  irrevocable  renun- 
ciation of  his  crown  into  the  hands  of  Edward^'. 

The  English  monarch  marched  as  far  north  as  Aber- 
deen and  Elgin,  without  meeting  a  single  enemy.  No 
Scotsman  approached  him,  but  to  pay  him  submission, 
and  do  him  homage.  Even  the  turbulent  Highlanders, 
ever  refractory  to  their  own  princes,  and  averse  against 
the  restraints  of  law,  endeavoured  by  a  timely  obedi- 
ence to  prevent  the  devastation  of  their  country:  and 
Edward,  flattering  himself  that  he  had  now  attained 
the  great  object  of  his  wishes,  in  the  final  reduction  of 
Scotland,  left  earl  Warrenne  governor  of  the  kingdom, 
and  returned  with  his  victorious  army  into  England'^. 
Here  a  few  particulars  are  necessary.  There  was 
a  stone  to  which  the  popular  superstition  of  the  Scots 
paid  the  highest  veneration.  All  their  kings  were  seat- 
ed on  it  when  they  received  the  rite  of  inau- 

A      •      ^*      IV  1  *u  A.  D.  2090, 

guration.      Ancient  tradition  assured  them, 

that  their  nation  should  always  govern  where  this  stone 
was  placed;  and  it  was  carefully  preserved  at  Scone,  as 
the  true  palladium  of  their  monarch,  and  their  ultimate 
resource  under  all  misfortunes.  Edward  got  posses- 
sion of  it,  and  carried  it  with  him  into  England.  He 
also  gave  orders  to  destroy  all  the  records,  and  all  those 
monuments  of  antiquity  which  might  preserve  the 
memory  of  the  independency  of  the  kingdom  of  Scot- 
land, and  refute  the  English  claims  of  superiority.  The 
great  seal  of  Baliol  was  broken,  and  that  prince  him- 
self was  carried  prisoner  to  London,  and  committed  to 

jV  Rymer,  vol.  ii.  Hemmin|^.  vol.  i.  Trivet.  Anna!.  12.  Id.  Il»id. 

TOt.  I,  3  L  rlgats 


410  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  u 

close  custody  in  the  Tower'^.  Two  years  after  he 
v/as  restored  to  liberty,  and  submitted  to  a  voluntary 
banishment  in  France;  where,  without  making  any 
farther  attempt  for  the  recover}'  of  his  royalty,  he  died 
in  a  prl\  ate  station. 

Edward  was  not  so  successful  in  an  effort  which  he 
made  for  the  recovery  of  Guienne.  The  French  mo- 
narch, Philip  IV.  surnamed  the  Fair,  had  robbed  Eng- 
land of  this  province,  by  an  artifice  similar  to  that  which 
Edward  had  practised  against  the  Scots.  He  had  cited 
the  English  monarch,  as  his  vassal,  to  answer,  in  the 
court  of  peers,  the  charge  of  treason  against  his  sove- 
reign; for  having  permitted  his  subjects  to  seize  some 
Norman  vessels,  and  denied  satisfaction:  and  Edward 
refusing  to  comply,  was  declared  guilty  of  treason,  and 
the  duchy  of  Guienne  confiscated.  An  English  army 
was  sent  over  to  recover  it,  under  the  earl  of  Lancaster, 
who  died  in  a  short  time ;  and  the  earl  of  Lincoln,  who 
succeeded  him  in  the  command,  failed  in  the  attempt. 
But  the  active  and  luiibitious  spirit  of  Edward  could 
mot  rest  satisfied  so  long  as  the  ancient  patrimony  of 
his  family  remained  in  the  hands  of  his  rival.  He 
therefore  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
earls  of  Holland  and  Flanders'"*;  and  hop- 
ed, that  when  he  should  enter  the  frontiers  of  France 
at  the  head  of  his  English,  Flemish,  and  Dutch  armies, 
the  French  king  would  purchase  peace  by  the  restitu- 
tion of  Guienne. 

But,  in  order  to  set  this  vast  machine  in  motion, 
considerable  supplies  were  necessary  from  parliament; 
and  these  Edward  readily  obtained  both  from  the  lords 
and  commons.  He  was  not  so  fortunate  in  his  impo- 
sitions on  the  clergy,  whom  he  always  hated,  and  from 
whom  he  demanded  a  fifth  of  all  their  moveables,  as 
a  punishment  for  their  adherence  to  the  Mountfort 
faction.      They  tu'ged  the  pope^s  bull  in  opposition  to 

13.  W.  Hemming.  T.  V/r.I.ine'.iam.    14.  Rvmer,  vol.  ii.  Hemming,  vol.  i. 

ail 


LET.  XXXVI.1     MODERN  EUROPE.  4ii 

all  such  demands;  and  Edward,  instead  of  appl)  ing  to 
Boniface  VIII.  then  pontiff,  for  a  relaxation  of  his 
mandate,  boldly  told  the  ecclesiastics,  that  since  they 
refused  to  support  the  civil  government,  they  were  un- 
worthy to  receive  any  benefit  from  it,  and  he  would 
accordingly  put  them  out  of  the  protection  of  the 
laws. 

This  vigorous  measure  was  immediately  carried 
into  execution.  Orders  were  issued  to  the  judges  to 
receive  no  cause  brought  before  them  by  the  clerg}-;  to 
hear  and  decide  all  causes  in  which  they  v/ere  defend- 
ants: to  do  every  one  justice  a-gainst  them,  but  to  do 
them  justice  against  nobody.  The  ecclesiastics  soon 
found  themselves  in  the  most  miserable  situation  ima- 
ginable. They  could  not  remain  always  in  their  own 
houses  or  convents  for  want  of  subsistence;  if  they  went 
abroad  in  quest  of  necessaries,  they  were  robbed  and 
abused  by  every  ruffian,  and  no  redress  could  be  ob- 
tained by  them  for  the  most  violent  injury.  The  spirit 
of  the  clergy  was  at  last  broken  by  this  harsh  treatment. 
"They  all  either  publicly  or  privately  complied  with 
the  king's  demands,  and  received  the  protection  of  the 
laws'^.  Not  one  ecclesiastic,  as  the  sagacious  Hume 
remarks,  seemed  willing  to  suffer  for  the  sake  of  reli- 
gious privileges,  this  new  species  of  martyrdom,  the 
most  tedious  and  languishing  of  any;  the  most  morti- 
fying to  spiritual  pride,  and  not  rewarded  by  that  crown 
of  glory,  which  the  church  holds  up  with  such  ostenta- 
tion to  her  faithful  sons. 

But  all  these  supplies  were  net  sufficient  for  the 
king's  necessities.  He  was  obliged  to  exert  his  arbi- 
trary power,  and  lay  an  oppressive  hand  on  every  or- 
der of  men  in  the  kingdom.  The  people  murmured, 
and  the  barons  mutinied,  notwithstanding  their  great 
personal  regard  for  Edward.  He  was  obliged  t^yc)'* 

ito    make    concessions;   to    promise    all   his 
subjects  a  compensation  for  the  losses  they  had  sus- 

IS.  W.  Heiumin^.  vol.  i.  Cbron.  Dumt.    vol.  ii. 

:t«iced, 


412  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paut  i,. 

tained,  and  to  confirm  the  Great  Charter  with  an  addi- 
tional clause,  in  order  to  secure  the  nation  for  ever 
against  all  impositions  and  taxes  without  consent  of 
parliament  ^.  These  concessions,  my  dear  Philip,  our 
anccsiors,  had  the  honour  of  extorting,  by  their  boldness 
and  perseverance,  from  the  ablest,  the  most  warlike, 
and  the  most  ambitious  monarch  that  ever  sat  upon  the 
throne  of  England.  The  validity  of  the  Great  Charter 
was  never  afterwards  formally  disputed. 

Such  a  number  of  domestic  discontents  obstructed 
the  king's  embarkation  for  Flanders  ;  so  that  he  lost 
the  proper  season  for  action,  and  after  his  arrival  made 
no  great  progress  against  the  enemy.  The  1'  rench  mo- 
narch, however,  proposed  a  cessation  of  arms;  and 
peace  was  soon  after  brought  about  by  the  mediation 
of  the  pope,  in  consequence  of  which  Guienne  was  res- 
tored to  England. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Scots  rebelled.  Earl  War- 
renne  having  returned  to  England,  on  account  of  his  ill 
state  of  health,  had  left  the  administration  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  Ormsby  and  Cressingham,  the  officers  next 
in  rank;  who,  instead  of  acting  with  that  prudence  and 
moderation  necessary  to  reconcile  the  Scottish  nation 
to  a  yoke  which  they  bore  with  such  extreme  reluc- 
tance, axasperated  every  man  of  spirit  by  the  rigour 
and  severity  of  their  government.  Among  these  Wil- 
liam Wallace,  whose  heroic  exploits  are  worthy  of  just 
panegyric,  but  to  whom  the  fond  admiration  of  the  Scots 
has  ascribed  many  fabulous  acts  of  prowess,  undertook 
and  accomplished  the  desperate  project  of  delivering 
his  native  country  from  the  dominion  of  foreigners. 
He  had  been  provoked  by  the  insolence  of  an  English 
officer,  to  put  him  to  death;  and  finding  himself  on  that 
account  obnoxious  to  the  conquerors,  he  fled  into  the 
woods,  and  offered  himself  as  a  leader  to  all  whom  the 
oppressions  of  the  English  governors  had  reduced  to 
the  like  necessity.      He  was  of  a  gigantic  stature,  and 

16,  T.  Wahingham.  W.  Hemmingford. 

endowed 


LET.  XXXVI.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  41S 

endowed  with  wonderful  strength  of  body;  with  invin- 
cible fortitude  of  mind:  with  disinterested  magnanimi- 
ty ;  with  incredible  patience,  and  ability  to  bear  hun- 
ger, fatigue,  and  all  the  severities  of  the  seasons  :  so 
that  he  soon  acquired,  among  his  desperate  associates, 
that  authority  to  which  his  virtues  so  eminently  entitled 
him.  Every  day  brought  aocounts  of  his  gallant  actions, 
which  were  received  with  no  less  favour  by  his  country- 
men, than  terror  by  the  enemy.  All  men  who  thirsted 
after  military  fame  v/ere  desirous  to  partake  of  his  re- 
nown :  his  successful  valour  seemed  to  vindicate  the 
nation  from  the  ignominy  under  which  it  had  fallen  by 
its  tame  submission  to  the  English;  and  although  no 
nobleman  of  note  ventured  yet  to  join  the  party  of  Wal- 
lace, he  had  gained  a  general  confidence  and  attachment, 
which  birth  and  fortune  alone  are  not  able  to  confer. 

So  many  fortunate  enterprizes  brought  the  valour  of 
the  Scottish  chieftain's  followers  to  correspond  with  his 
own:  and  he  determined  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  against 
the  English  government.  Ormsby,  apprised  of  his  in- 
tention, fled  hastily  into  England;  and  all  the  other 
officers  of  his  nation  imitated  his  example.  Their 
terror  added  courage  to  the  Scots,  who  betook  them- 
selves to  arms  in  every  quarter.  Many  of  the  principal 
barons  openly  countenanced  Wallace's  party:  and  the 
nation,  shaking  off  its  fetters,  prepared  to  defend,  by 
one  united  effort,  that  liberty  which  it  had  so  unexpect- 
edly recovered  from  ths  hands  of  its  oppressors. 

Meanwhile  Warrenne  having  collected  an  army  of 
forty  thousand  men  in  the  north  of  England,  in  order  to 
re-establish  his  authority,  suddenly  entered  Annandale, 
before  the  Scots  had  united  their  forces,  or  put  them- 
selves in  a  posture  of  defence;  and  many  of  the  nobles, 
alarmed  at  the  danger  of  their  situation,  renewed  their 
oaths  of  feahy,  and  received  a  pardon  for  past  offences. 
But  Wallace,  still  undaunteil,  continued  obstinate  in  his 
purpose.  As  he  found  himself  unable  to  give  battle  to 
the  enernyj   he  marched  northwards,   with   an  intention 

oi" 


414  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  prolonging  the  war,  and  of  turning  to  his  advantage 
the  situation  of  that  mountainous  and  barren  country. 
Warrenne  attacked  him  in  his  camp  near  Stirling,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Forth,  where  the  English  army  was 
totally  routed,      Cressin^ham,   whose  impa- 

•  .  SEPT      11 

tience    urged   this  attack,  was   slain;  War- 
renne was  obliged  to  retire  into  England,  and  the  prin- 
cipal  fortresses    in    Scotland   surrendered   to   the   con- 
queror'^. 

Wallace  was  now  universally  revered  as  the  deliverer 
of  his  country,  and  received  from  his  followers  the  title 
of  Regent  or  guardian  of  the  kingdom,  a  dignity  which 
he  well  deserved.  Not  satisfied  with  expelling  the 
enemy,  he  urged  his  army  to  march  into  England,  and 
revenge  all  past  injuries,  by  retaliating  on  that  hostile 
nation.  The  Scots,  who  deemed  every  thing  possible 
with  such  a  leader,  joyfully  attended  his  call.  They 
broke  into  the  northern  counties  during  the  winter  sea- 
son, laying  every  thing  waste  before  them;  and  after 
extending  their  ravages  on  all  sides,  as  far  as  the  bish- 
opric of  Durham,  returned  into  their  own  country,  load- 
ed with  spoils,  and  crowned  with  glory,  under  the 
victorious  Wallace". 

Edward  was  in  Flanders,  when  he  received  intelli- 
gence of  these  events,  and  having  already 
concluded  a  peace  with  France,  he  hastened 
over  to  England,  in  assured  hopes,  not  only  of  wiping 
off  every  disgrace,  but  of  recovering  the  important  con- 
quest of  Scotland,  which  he  had  always  considered  as 
the  chief  glory  of  his  reign.  With  this  view  he  col- 
lected the  whole  military  force  of  England,  W^ales,  and 
Ireland  ;  and  with  an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand 
combatants,  entered  th€  devoted  kingdom.  Scotland 
was  never  at  any  time  able  to  withstand  such  a  force. 
At  present  it  was  without  a  head  and  torn  by  intestine 
Jealousies.      The  elevation  of  Wallace  was  the  object  of 

ir.  V/,  Hemming.    T.  Walsin^haro.  18.  W.  Hemmitig,  vol.  5. 

ienvy 


LIT.  XXXVI.]    MODERN  EUROPE.  415 

envy  to  the  nobility,  who  repined  to  see  a  private  man 

raised  above  them  by  his  rank,   and  still  more  by  his 

reputation.     Sensible  of  these  evils,   Wallace  resigned 

his  authority;   and  the  chief  command  devolved  upon, 

men  more  eminent  by  birth,  though  less  distinguished 

by    abilities,  but  under   whom    the   nobles   were    more 

willing  to  serve  in  defence  of  their  country.      They  tixed 

their  station  at  Falkirk,  where  Edward  came 

.  JULY   22. 

up  with  them,    and  the  v/hole   Scottish  army 

was  broken,   and  chased  off  the  field  with  great  slaugh- 
ter'9. 

The  subjection  of  Scotland,  however,  was  not  yet 
accomplished.      The   English  .army,  after  reducing  all 

the  southern  provinces,  was  obliced  to  retire 

.  .  ,  A. D.  1299. 

for  want  of  provisions;   and  the    Scots,  no 

less  enraged  at  their  present  defeat  than  elevated  by 
their  past  victories,  still  maintained  the  contest  for  li- 
berty. They  were  again  victorious,  and  again  subdued. 
Wallace  alone  maintained  his  independency  amidst  the 
universal  slavery  of  his  countrymen.  But  he  was  at  length 
betrayed  to  the  English  by  his  friend  Sir  John  Mon- 
teith:  and  Edv/ard,  whose  natural  bravery  and  magnan- 
imity should  have  led  him  to  respect  like  qualities  in 
an  enemy,  ordered  this  illustrious  patriot  to  be  carried 
in  chains  to  London  f  to  be  tried  as  a  rebel  and  traitor, 
though  he  had  never  made  submission  or  sworn  fealty 
to  England,  and  to  be  executed  on  Tower- 
hilP°.  He  could  not  think  his  favourite  con- 
quest secure,  whilst  Wallace  was  alive.  Hence  the 
unworthy  fate  of  a  man,  who  had  defended  for  many 
years,  with  signal  valour  and  perseverance,  the  liber- 
ties of  his  native  country. 

But  the  barbarous  policy  of  Edward  failed  of  the 
purpose  to  which  it  was  directed.  The  cruelty  and 
injustice  exercised  upon  Wallace,  instead  of  breaking 
the  spirit,  only  roused  more  effectually  the  resentment 
of  the  Scots.     All  the  envy  which,  during  his  life-time, 

19.  T.  Walsingham.  T.  Wykes.  W.  Hemming.  20.  M.   W'est. 

G«o.  Buchanan. 

had 


416  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

had  attended  that  gallant  chieftain,  being  now  buried 
in  his  grave,  he  was  universally  regarded  as  the  cham- 
pion of  Scotland,  and  equally  lamented  by  all  ranks  of 
men.  The  people  were  every  where  disposed  to  rise 
against  the  English  government:  and  a  new  and  more 
fortunate  leader  soon  presented  himself,  who  conducted 
them  to  liberty,  to  victory,  and  to  vengeance. 

Robert  Bruce,  son  of  that  Robert  who,  had  been 
•ne  of  the  competitors  for  the  crown  of  Scotland,  had 
succeeded,   in  consequence  of  his  father's  death,  to  all 

^^^^    his  pretensions;   and   the   death   ol   John 
A.    D.    1306.  „  ,.'  ,  .  ,     1  ,      ,  , 

Baliol,  which   happened   about  the  same 

time  in  France,  seemed  to  open  a  full  career  to  the 
genius  and  ambition  of  this  young  nobleman.  He  had 
formerly  served  in  the  English  army;  but  in  a  private 
conference  held  with  Wallace,  after  the  battle  of  Falkirk 
the  flame  of  patriotism  was  suddenly  conveyed  from  the 
breast  of  one  hero  to  that  of  another.  Bruce  regretted 
his  engagement  with  Edward,  and  secretly  determined 
to  seize  the  first  opportunity  of  rescuing  from  slavery 
his  oppressed  country.  The  time  of  deliverance 
seemed  now  come.  He  hoped  that  the  Scots,  without 
a  leader,  and  without  a  king,  would  unanimously  repair 
to  his  standard,  and  seat  him  on  the  vacant  throne.  In- 
flamed with  the  ardour  of  youth,  und  buoyed  up  by  na- 
tive courage,  his  aspiring  spirit  saw  alone  the  glory  of 
the  enterprize,  or  regarded  the  difficulties  that  must 
attend  it  as  the  source  only  of  greater  glory.  The 
miseries  and  oppressions  which  he  had  beheld  his  coun- 
trymen sufl'er  in  their  unequal  contest  for  independen- 
cy: the  repeated  defeats  and  misfortunes  which  they 
had  undergone  in  the  struggle,  proved  but  so  many  in- 
centives to  bring  them  relief,  and  to  lead  them  boiling 
with  revenge,  against  the  haughty  victors. 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  and  some  suspi- 
cions that  Edward  was  apprised  of  it,  Bruce  suddenly 
left  the  English  court,  and   arrived  in  a  few  days  at 

Dumfries, 


L£T.  XXXVI.]     MODERN   EUROPE.  4.ir 

Dumfries,  in  Annandale,  the  chief  seat  of  his  family 
interest.  There  a  number  of  the  nobility  were  happily 
assembled,  and  among  the  rest  John  Cummin,  to  whom 
he  had  formerly  communicated  his  designs,  and  who 
had  basely  revealed  them  to  Edward.  The  noblemen 
were  astonished  at  the  appearance  of  Bruce,  and  yet 
more  when  he  told  them,  that  he  was  come  to  live  or 
die  with  them  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  his  country} 
and  hoped,  with  their  assistance,  to  redeem  the  Scottish 
name  from  all  indignities  which  it  had  so  long  suffered 
from  the  tyranny  of  their  imperious  masters.  It  were 
better,  he  said,  if  Heaven  should  decree  it,  to  perish  at 
once  like  brave  men,  with  swords  in  their  hands,  than 
to  dread  long,  and  at  last  undergo  the  fate  of  the  unfor-, 
tunate    Wallace-^ 

The  spirit  with  which  this  discourse  was  delivered, 
the  bold  sentiments  which  it  conveyed,  the  novelty  of 
Bruce's  declaration,  assisted  by  the  graces  of  his  youth 
and  manly  deportment,  made  deep  impression  on  the 
minds  of  the  nobles,  and  roused  all  those  principles  of 
indignation  and  revenge,  with  which  they  had  long  been 
secretly  actuated.  They  declared  their  unanimous  re.^ 
solution  to  use  the  utmost  efforts  in  delivering  their 
country  from  bondage,  and  to  second  the  courage  of 
Bruce,  in  asserting  his  and  their  undoubted  rights 
against  their  common  oppressors.  Cum^min  alone,  who 
had  privately  taken  his  measures  with  Edward,  opposed 
the  general  determination,  by  representing  the  great 
power  of  the  English  nation;  and  Bruce,  already  inform., 
ed  of  his  treachery,  followed  him  out  of  the  assembly, 
and  running  him  through  the  body,  left  him  for  dead. 
Sir  Thomas  Kirkpatrick,  one  of  Bruce's  friends,  asked 
him  on  his  return,  if  the  traitor  was  slain.  "  I  believe 
so,"  replied  Bruce:  "  And  is  that  a  matter,"  cried  Kirk«. 
pat-rick,   "  to  be  left  to  conjecture — I  will  secure  him,'^ 

21,  Ibid. 
VOL.  I,  3  m  He 


418  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

He  accordingly  drew  his  dagger,   ran  to  Cummin,   and 
stabbed  him  to  the  heart-^. 

This  deed  of  Bruce  and  his  associates,  my  dear 
Philip,  which  contain  circumstances  justly  condemned 
by  our  present  manners,  was  regarded  in  that  age  as  an 
effort  of  manly  vigour  and  just  policy.  Hence  the  family 
of  Kirkpatrick  took  for  the  crest  of  their  arms  a  hand 
with  a  bloody  dagger;  and  as  a  motto,  the  words  employ- 
ed by  their  ancestor,  when  he  executed  that  violent  action: 
*'  I  will  secure  him  I" 

The  murder  of  Cummin  affixed  the  seal  to  the  con- 
spiracy of  the  Scottish  nobles.  They  had  no  resource 
left,  but  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  England  or  perish  in 
the  attempt.  The  genius  of  the  nation  roused  itself  from 
its  long  dejection;  and  Bruce,  flying  to  different  quarters, 
excited  his  partizans  every  where  to  arms.  He  success- 
fully attacked  the  dispersed  bodies  of  the  English ;  got 
possession  of  many  castles;  and  having  made  his  autho- 
rit)'  be  acknowledged  in  most  parts  of  the  kingdom,  was 
solemnly  crowned  at  Scone, by  the  bishopof  St.  Andrew's^ 
who  had  zealously  embraced  his  cause.  The  English 
were  again  driven  out  of  the  kingdom,  except  such  as 
took  shelter  in  tlie  fortresses  still  in  their  hands ;  and 
Edward  found  that  the  Scots,  already  twice  conquered 
by  his  valour,  were  yet  to  subdue. 

Conscious,  however,  of  his  superior  power,  as  well  aa 
superior  skill  in  arms,  this  great  monarch  made  light  of 
his  antag-onist.  He  thought  of  nothing  but  victory  and 
vengeance.  He  sent  a  body  of  troops  into  Scotland 
under  Aymar  de  Valence,  his  general ;  who  falliag  unex- 
pectedly upon  Bruce,  threw  his  army  into  disorder,  and 
obliged  him  to  take  shelter  in  the  Western  Isles. 
Edward  himself  was  advancing  with  a  mighty  force, 
determined  to  make  the  now  defenceless  Scots  the  vie- 
tims  of  his  severit}',  when  he  unexpectedly 
'  sickened  anddied  at  Carlisle;  enjoining,  with 

22.  W.  Hemming.  M.  West.  T.  WiilaiTigham.  G,  Buchanan,  lib.  viii. 

his 


XET.  XXXVI.]    MODERN  EUROPE.  419 

his  latest  breath,  his  son  and  successor  to  prosecute 
the  war,  and  never  to  desist  till  he  had  finally  subdued 
the  kingdom  of  Scotland-3.  But  that,  as  we  shall  after- 
wards have  occasion  to  see,  the  second  Edward  was 
little  able  to  accomplish. 

The  character  of  Edward  I.  as  a  warrior  and  politician, 
has  already  been  sufficiently  delineated.  I  shall,  therefore, 
forbear  touching  again  on  those  particulars,  and  conclude 
this  letter  with  his  merit  as  a  legislator,  which  has  justly 
obtained  him  the  honourable  appellation  of  the  English 
Justinian.  The  numerous  statutes  passed  during  his 
reign  settled  the  chief  points  of  jurisprudence  ;  and,  as 
.Sir  Edward  Coke  observes,  truly  deserre  the  name  of 
establishments,  because  they  have  been  more  constant, 
standing,  and  durable  laws,  than  any  made  since.  The 
regular  order  maintained  in  his  administration,  also 
gave  the  common  law  an  opportunity  to  refine  itself; 
brought  the  judges  to  a  certainty  in  their  determinations, 
and  the  lawyers  to  precision  in  their  pleadings.  He 
regulated  the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  courts;  esta- 
blished the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  completed  the 
division  of  the  court  of  exchequer  into  four  distinct 
■courts,  each  of  which  managed  its  separate  branch,  with- 
out dependence  upon  any  one  magistrate  ;  and  as  the 
lawyers  afterwards  invented  a  method  of  carrying  busi- 
ness from  one  court  to  another,  the  several  courts  became 
rivals  and  checks  on  each  other.;  a  circumstance  which 
tended  very  much  to  improve  the  practice  of  the  law  in 
this  country^'K  But  although  Edward  took  so  much  care 
that  his  subjects  should  do  justice  to  each  other,  we 
cannot  ascribe  it  to  his  love  of  equity;  for  in  all  his 
transactions,  either  with  them  or  with  his  neighbours, 
he  always  desired  to  have  his  owai  hands  free: — and  his 
•violences  upon  both  were  not  fev/. 

23.  T.  Walsingham.     Trivet,    Amiai.  V3Q7. 
S4.  KaJe,  ffist.  of  English  L-.iw. 

3LET  IFJR 


420  THE   HISTORY  OF  [paut  u 


LETTER  XXXVII. 

felVrCLAND)     DURING   THE   REIGN  OF  EDWARD   II.   -VflTM   A* 
ACCOUNT   OF   THE   AFFAIRS  OF   SCOTLAND. 

JL  HE  critical  situation  of  affairs  between  England 
feind  Scotland  at  the  death  of  Edward  I.  makes  it  necessa- 
ty,  my  dear  Philip,  to  carry  farther  the  history  of  our 
Own  island,  before  we  return  to  the  transactions  on  the 
continents 

No  prince  ever  ascended  the  English  throne  with 
more  advantages  than  Edward  H.  He  was  in  the 
twenty-third  vear  of  iiis  age,  and  universally  beloved  by 
the  people,  both  on  account  of  the  sweetness  of  his  own 
■disposition,  and  as  the  son  and  successor  of  their  illustri- 
ous monarch.  He  was  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  ready 
to  subject  the  whole  island  to  his  sway;  and  all  men 
promised  themselves  tranquillity  and  happiness  under 
his  goveniment.  But  the  first  act  of  his  reign  blasted  all 
these  hopes,  and  shewed  him  totally  unqualified  for  his 
high  station.  Instead  of  prosecuting  the  cont^uest  of 
Scotland,  according  to  the  desire  of  his  father,  he 
returned  into.  England,  after  a  few  feeble  efforts,  and 
immediately  disbanded  his  forces ;  although  Robert 
Bruce  had,  before  this  time,  emerged  from  his  obscurity, 
•and  was  become  sufficiently  formidable  to  make  more 
vigorous  measures  necessary. 

The  next  step  taken  by  Edwafd  was  no  less  weak  and 
impfudent.  He  recalled  Piers  Gaveston,  a  youthful 
favourite,  whom  the  late  king  had  banished  the  realm, 
on  account  of  his  ascendency  over  this  prince ;  and 
whom,  on  his  death  bed,  he  had  made  him  promise  never 
more  to  entertain.  Gaveston  was  the  son  of  a  Gascon 
Jcnight  of  sorne  distinction,  and  by  his  shining  accomplish- 
ments had  early  Insinuated  himself  into  the  affections  of 
young  Edward,  whose  heart  was  easily  caught  by  ap»- 
|)earances,  and  strongly  disposed  to  friendship  and  con- 
fid  encco 


LET.  XXXVII.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  421 

fidence.  He  was  endowed  with  the  utmost  elegance  of 
shape  and  person ;  was  noted  for  a  fine  mien  and 
easy  carriage;  had  distinguished  himself  in  all  warlike 
and  genteel  exercises,  and  was  celebrated  for  those  quick 
sallies  of  wit  in  which  his  countrymen  usually  excel. 
Little  wonder  that  such  a  companion  was  thought  ne- 
cessary to  a  gay  monarch,  whose  foibles  he  was  able  to 
flatter:  but  a  wise  king  will  have  no  public  favourite, 
and  still  less  a  foreign  one,  Edward  experienced  this 
danger. 

Gaveston  no  sooner  arrived  at  court  than  he  was 
loaded  with  benefits,  and  exalted  to  the  highest  honours. 
The  king  bestowed  upon  him  the  earldom  of  Cornwall, 
which  had  escheated  to  the  crown,  by  the  death  of  prince 
Edmond,  son  of  Richard  king  of  the  Romans.  He  mar- 
ried him  to  his  own  niece;  and  seemed  to  enjoy  no  plea- 
sure in  his  royaltv  but  as  it  served  to  add  lustre  to  this 
object  of  liis  fond  idolatry.  The  haughty  barons,  already 
justly  dissatisfied  with  Edward's  conduct  in  regard  to 
Scotland,  were  enraged  at  the  superiority  of  a  minion 
whom  they  despised.  Nor  did  they  take  any  care  to  con- 
ceal their  animosity.  Meanwhile  Gaveston,  instead  of 
■disarming  envy  b)^  the  moderation  and  modesty  of  his 
behaviour,  displayed  his  power  and  influence  witli  the 
utmost  ostentation.  Every  day  multiplied  his  enemies; 
and  nothing  was  wanting  but  time  to  cement  their  union, 
and  render  it  fatal  both  to  him  and  his  master. 

This  union  was  at  length  efifected  by  Thomas  earl  of 
Lancaster,  cousin-german  to  the  king,  and  first  prince  of 

the  blood.  He  put  himself  at  the  head  of  that 

,       ,  ,        I'll        1        A.D.  1303. 

party  among  the  barons  v/ho  desired  the  de- 
pression of  this  insolent  stranger.  The  confederated 
nobles  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  expel  Gaveston:  thcv 
took  arms  for  that  purpose,  and  Edward  was  obliged  to 
banish  him.  But  he  was  alterwards  recalled,  reinstated 
in  his  former  consequence,  and  became  more  than  ever 
the  object  of  general  detestation  among  the  nobility,  on 
account  of  his  ostentation  and  insolence.  A  new  confe- 
deracy 


422  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

deracy  was  formed  against  him:  he  was  again  banished, 
and  again  recalled  by  the  fond  deluded  monarch.  An 
^^^^  universal  revolt  took  place:  Edward  and  his 
lavourite  were  hunted  from  corner  to  corner  j 
and  Gaveston  at  last  fell  by  the  hands  of  the  public  execu- 
tioner . 

After  the  death  of  Gaveston,  the  king's  person  be- 
came less  obnoxious  to  the  people.  The  discontents  of  all 
men  seemed  to  be  much  appeased;  the  animosities  of  fac- 
tion no  longer  prevailed;  and  England,  it  was  hoped, 
would  now  be  able  to  take  vengeance  on  all  her  enemies, 
but  especially  on  the  Scots,  whose  progress  was  become 
the  object  of  general  resentment  a;id  indignation. 

Soon  after  Edward's  retreat  from  Scotland,  Robert 
Bruce  made  himself  master  of  the  whole  kingdom,  except 
a  few  fortresses.  He  dail}'  reconciled  the  minds  of  the 
nobility  to  his  dominion:  he  enlisted  under  his  standard 
every  bold  spirit,  and  enriched  his  followers  with  the 
spoils  of  the  enemy.  Sir  Jam.es  Douglas,  in  whom  com- 
menced the  greatness  and  renown  of  that  warlike  family, 
seconded  Robert  in  all  his  enterprizes.  Edwai'd  Bruce, 
the  king's  brother,  also  distinguished  himself  by  his 
valour;  and  the  dread  of  the  English  power  being  now 
abated  by  the  feeble  conduct  of  Edward,  even  the  least 
sanguine  of  the  Scots  began  to  entertain  hopes  of  re- 
covering their  independency.  They  obtained  a  truce, 
which  was  of  short  duration,  and  ill  observed  on 
both  sides.  But  short  as  it  was,  it  served  to  con- 
solidate the  power  of  the  king,  and  introduce  order 
into  the  civil  government.  War  was  renewed  with 
greater  fury  than  ever.  Not  content  with  defend- 
ing himself,  Rol:)ert  made  successful  inroads  into  Eng- 
land; subsisted  his  needy  followers  by  the  plunder  of  the 
country,  and  taught  them  to  despise  the  military  genius 
of  a  people,  who  had  long  been  the  object  of  their  terror. 

1.  T.  Walsingham.     T.  de  la  More,     W.  Hemming. 

Edward 


LET.  XXXVII.]    MODERN    EUROPE.  42'i 

Edward,  at  length  roused  from  his  lethargy,  had 
inarched  an  army  into  Scotland;  and  Robert,  determined 
not  to  risk  too  much  against  a  superior  force,  had  agaia 
retired  into  his  mountains.  The  English  monarch  ad- 
vanced beyond  Edinburg;  but  being  destitute  of  provi- 
sions, and  ill  supported  by  his  nobility,  he  was  obliged  to 
return  home,  without  gaining  any  advantage  over  the 
enemy.  The  seeming  union,  however,  of  all  parties  in 
England,  after  the  death  of  Gaveston,  opened  again  the 
prospect  of  reducing  Scotland,  and  promised  a  happy 
conclusion  to  a  war  in  which  both  the  interests  and  the 
passions  of  the  nation  were  so  deeply  engaged. 

Edward  assembled  forces  from  all  quarters,  with  a 
view  of  finishing  at  one  blow  this  important  enterprize. 
He  summoned  the  most  warlike  of  his  vassals  from 
Gascony:  he  enlisted  troops  from  Flanders,  and  other 
foreign  countries:  he  invited  over  great  numbers  of  the 
disorderly  Irish,  as  to  a  certain  prey  :  he  joined  to  them 
a  body  of  Welsh,  who  were  actuated  by  like  motives  :  he 
collected  the  whole  military  force  of  England,  and  enter- 
ed Scotland  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  near  1^11. 
one  hundred  thousand  men.  The  Scottish 
army  did  not  exceed  thirty  thousand  combatants  ;  but 
being  composed  of  men  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves by  many  acts  of  valour,  who  were  rendered  despe- 
rate by  their  situation,  and  who  were  inured  to  all  the 
varieties  of  fortune,  they  might  justly,  under  such  ajeader 
as  Bruce,  be  esteemed  equal  to  a  far  more  numerous 
body.  Robert,  however,  left  as  little  as  possible  to  the 
superior  gallantry  of  his  troops.  He  posted  himself 
strongly  at  Bannockburn,  about  two  miles  from  Stirling  j 
the  only  fortress  in  Scotland  that  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  English,  and  which  was  on  the  point  of  surren- 
dering. He  had  a  rivulet  in  front,  a  hill  on  his  right 
flank,  and  a  morass  on  his  left.  In  this  situation  he  wait- 
ed the  approach  of  Edward. 

The  English  army  arrived  in  sight  towards  evening, 
and  a  smart  combat  immediately   commenced    betwt-en 

twa 


424  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

two  bodies  of  cavalry.      Robert,  who  was  at  the  head  of 
..     the   Scots,   enpraored    in   single    combat    with 

JUNE      14.  '  t)    t)  o 

Henry  de  Bohun,  a  gentleman  of  the  family  of 
Hereford,  and  at  one  stroke  cleft  his  antagonist  to  the 
chin  with  a  battle-axe,  in  sight  of  the  two  armies.  The 
English  horse  fled  with  precipitation  to  their  main  body, 
and  night  prevented  any  farther  hostilities.  Meanwhile 
the  Scots,  encouraged  by  this  favourable  event,  and  glory- 
ing in  the  prowess  of  their  prince,  prognosticated  a  happy 
issue  to  the  contest  of  the  ensuing  day;  and  the  English^ 
confident  in  their  numbers,  and  elated  by  past  suc- 
cesses, longed  for  an  opportunity  of  revenge.  The 
darkness,  though  but  of  a  few  hours,  was  borne  with  im- 
patience: and  Edward,  as  soon  as  light  appeared,  drew 
up  his  forces,  and  advanced  against  the  Scots.  Both 
armies  engaged  with  great  ardour,  and  the  dispute 
was  fierce  and  bloody.  Sir  James  Douglas  had  broken 
the  English  cavalry;  but  their  line  of  infantry  was 
still  firm,  when  a  stratagem  decided  the  fortune  of 
the  field.  Bruce  had  collected  a  number  of  waggoners 
and  suuipter  boys,  and  furnished  them  with  standards. 
They  appeared  upon  the  heights  towards  the  left.  The 
English  mistook  them  for  a  fresh  army  coming  to 
surround  them:  a  panic  seized  them;  they  threw  down 
their  arms  and  fled.  The  Scots  pursued  with  great 
slaughter  as  far  as  Berwick ;  and  besides  an  inestimable 
booty,  took  many  persons  of  quality  prisoners,  with  above 
four  hundred  gentlemen,  whom  Bruce  treated  with  great 
humanity,  and  whose  ransom  was  a  new  accession  of 
wealth  to  tlie  victorious  army.  Edward  himself  narrow- 
ly escaped,  by  taking  shelter  in  Dunbar,  whence  he  passed 
by  sea  to  Berwick'. 

Such  was  the  great  and  decisive  battle  of  Bannock- 
burn,  which  secured  the  independency  of  Scotland  ;  fixed 
Bruce  on  the  throne  of  that  kingdom,  and  may  be  deem- 
ed the  most  signal  blow  that  the  English  monarchy  has 

2.  MoK.  Mulmes.  T.  de  la  More.  T.  Wahin-ham.  Ypod.  Neust. 

received 


LIT.  xxxvii.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  4^ 

received  since  the  Norman  invasion.  The  number  of 
slain  is  not  certainly  known,  but  it  must  have  been  very 
great;  for  the  impression  of  this  defeat  in  the  minds  of 
the  English  was  so  strong,  that  no  superiority  of  force 
could  encourage  them  to  keep  the  field  against  the  Scots 
for  some  years. 

In  order  to  avail  himself  of  his  present  success, 
Robert  entered  England;  ravaged  all  the  northern  coun- 
ties without  opposition  ;  and  elated  by  his  continued 
prosperity,  now  entertained  hopes  of  making  the  most 
important  conquests  at  the  expense  of  the  English.  He 
sent  over  his  brother  Edward  with  an  army  _    ^ 

A    D     131^ 

of  six  thousand  men  into   Ireland,  and  he     *     * 
himself  followed  soon  after  with  a  more  numerous  body 
of  troops.     But  a  grievous   famine,  which  at  that  time 
desolated  both  Britain  and  Ireland,  reduced  the  Scottish 
army  to  the  greatest  extremity;  so  that  Robert  was  oblig- 
ed to  return  with  his  forces  much  diminished,  into  his 
own  country.      His  brother,  who  assumed 
the  title  of  king  of  Ireland,  after  experienc- 
ing a  variety  of  hardships,  was  defeated  and  slain  by 
the  English  near  Dundalk  ;    and  Robert  became  sensible 
that  he  had  attempted  projects  too   extensive    for   the 
force  of  his  narrow  kingdom. 

Edward,  besides  the  disasters  which  he  suffered 
from  the  invasion  of  the  Scots,  and  the  opposition  form- 
ed against  his  government  in  Ireland,  was  harassed 
with  a  rebellion  in  Wales :  and  the  factions  of  his  nobility 
troubled  him  yet  more  than  all  these.  They  took  advan- 
tage of  the  public  calamities  to  insult  his  fallen  fortunes, 
and  endeavoured  to  establish  their  own  independency  on 
the  ruins  of  the  throne.  The  king's  unhappy  situation 
obliged  him  to  comply  with  all  their  demands.  The 
ministry  was  new  modelled  by  the  direction  of  Lancas« 
ter,  and  that  prince  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  coun- 
cil. Edward  himself  was  evidently  by  nature  unfit  to 
hold  the  reins  of  government.  He  was  sensible  of  hi» 
own  defects,  and  sought  to  be  governed ;  yet  every 
favourite    (for  such  they  were  rather  than  ministers) 

VOL.  I*  3  w  whon» 


426  -TKE  HISTORY  OF  [paiit  r» 

whom  fie  successively  chose,  was  regnrded  as  a  fellow- 
subject  exalted  above  his  rank  and  station,  and  became 
the  object  of  envy  to  the  chief  nobility.  The  king's 
principal  favourite,  after  the  death  of  Gaveston,  was 
Hugh  le  Despenser,  or  Spenser,  a  young  man  of  Eng-. 
iish  birch,  and  of  a  nnble  family.  He  possessed  all  the 
exterior  accomplishments  of  person  and  address  that 
were  fitted  to  engage  the  weak  mind ' of  Edward,  but 
was  destitute  of  that  moderation  and  prudence,  which 
might  have  qualified  him  to  mitigate  the  envy  of  the 
great,  and  conduct  himself  quietly  through  the  perils 
,of  the  dangerous  station  to  which  he  was  advanced. 

No  sooner  was    Edward's  attachment  declared  for 

young  Spens&r,  than  the  turbulent  Lancaster,  and  most 

of  the  great  barons  regarded  him  as  their  rival;   made 

hini  the  object  of  their  animosity,   and  formed  violent 

plans  for  his  ruin.      They  withdrew  them- 

A       T)       1  'iSl 

selves  from  parJiament,  betook  themselves 
to  arms,  and  demanded  the  banishment  of  the  favourite 
and  his  father,  These  noblemen  were  then  absent.  The 
father  was  abroad,  the  son  at  sea:  and  both  were  em- 
ployed in  executing  different  commissions.  The  king 
therefore  replied,  that  his  coronation  oath,  by  which  he 
was  bound  to  observe  the  laws,  restrained  him  from 
giving  his  assent  to  so  illegal  a  demand,  or  condemning 
noblemen  who  were  accused  of  no  crime,  nor  had  any 
opportunity  afforded  them  of  giving  answer.  But  equity 
and  reason  proved  a  feeble  barrier  against  men  who  had 
arms  in  their  hands,  and  who  being  already  involved  in 
guilt,  saw  no  safety  but  in  success  and  victory.  They 
entered  London  with  their  troops;  and  giving  into  the 
parliament,  which  was  then  sitting,  a  charge  against  the 
JSpensers  (of  which  they  did  not  attempt,  to  prove  one 
article),  they  procured  by  menaces  and  violence,  a  sen^ 
|,ence  of  perpetual  exile  against  those  mini6ters\ 


p.  Tyrrel,  from  the  Register  of  C.  C.  Canterbury.    T.  Walsingham. 
Tnttle's  Collect,  par,  ii.       Ryracr,  vol.  iii, 

Thi« 


LET.  XXXVII,]     MODERN  EUROPE.  -427 

This  act  of  violence,  in  which  the  king  was  obliged 
to  acquiesce,  rendered  his  person  and  authority  so  con- 
temptible, that  every  one  thought  himself  entitled  to 
treat  the  royal  family  with  neglect.  The  queen  wai 
publicly  insulted;  but  as  that  princess  was  generally 
beloved,  Edward  was  permitted  to  take  vengeance  on 
the  ofl'ender.  Having  now  some  forces  on  foot,  and 
having  concerted  measures  with  his  friends  throughout 
England,  he  ventured  to  pull  off  the  mask ;  to  attack  all  his 
enemies,  and  to  recall  the  two  Spensers,  whose  sentence 
he  declared  illegal,  unjust,  and  contrary  to  the  tenor  of 
the  Great  Charter4. 

The  king  had  now  got  the  start  of  of  the  barons; 
«.n  advantage  which  in  those  times  was  generally  deci- 
sive. It  proved  so  in  the  present  instance.  Lancas- 
ter alone  made  resistance;  he  was  taken  prisoner,  con- 
demned by  a  court  martial,  and  led  to  exe-  .  „  ^^ 
cution.  About  tiyenty  more  of  the  most 
notorious  offenders  were  afterwards  condemned  bj^  le- 
gal trial  and  executed.  Many  were  thrown  into 
prison;  some  made  their  escape  beyond  sea;  and 
most  of  the  forfeitures  were  seized  by  young  Spenser^ 
whose  rapacity  was  insatiable.  The  barons  of  the 
king's  party  were  disgusted  with  this  partial  division 
of  the  spoils  :  the  envy  against  the  favourite  rose  high- 
er than  ever.  The  people,  who  always  hated  him, 
made  him  still  more  the  object  of  their  aversion:  all 
the  relations  of  the  attainted  barons  vowed  revenge  ; 
and  although  tranquillity  was  in  appearance  restored  to 
tlije  kingdom,  the  general  contempt  of  the  king,  and 
odium  of  Spenser,  engendered  future  revolutions  and 
convulsions. 

In  such   a  situation   no   success  could  be  expected 

from   foreign  wars.      Edward,  therefore,  after  making 

one  more  fruitless  attempt  ap-ainst  Scotland, 

.         .  A.  D. 1323. 

whence  he  retreated  with  dishonour,  found 

it  necessary  to  terminate  hostilities  with  that  kingdom 

4.  Rymer,  vibi  sup. 

by 


428  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  r. 

by  a  truce  of  thirteen  years.  This  truce  was  so  much 
the  more  seasonable  for  England,  as  the  nation  was  at 
that  time  threatened  with  hostilities  from  France, 
Charles  the  Fair  had  some  grounds  of  complaint  against 
the  English  ministers  in  Guienne,  and  seemed  desir- 
ous to  take  advantage  of  Edward's  weakness,  in  or- 
der to  confiscate  all  his  foreign  dominions. 

After  an   embassy  by  the  earl  of  Kent,  the  king's 

^  „^  ,     brother  had  been  tried  in  vain,  queen  Isa- 
A.  D.    1324.  .     . 

bella  obtained  permission  to  go  over  to 

Paris,  and  endeavoured  to  adjust  matters  with  her  bro- 
ther. She  there  found  a  number  of  English  fugitives^ 
the  remains  of  the  Lancastrian  faction,  and  their  com- 
mon hatred  of  young  Spenser,  soon  begot  a  secret 
friendship  and  correspondence  between  them  and  that 
princess,  who  envied  the  favourite  his  influence  with 
the  king.  Among  these  refugees  was  Roger  Morti- 
mer, a  potent  baron  in  the  Welsh  Marches,  who  had 
been  condemned  for  high  treason,  but  had  made  his 
escape  from  the  tower.  His  consequence  introduced 
him  to  queen  Isabella,  and  the  graces  of  his  person 
and  address  advanced  him  quickly  in  her  affections. 
He  became  her  confidant  and  counsellor  in  all  her 
measures;  and  gaining  ground  daily  upon  her  heart, 
he  engaged  her  to  sacrifice  at  last,  to  her  passion,  all 
the  sentiments  of  honour  and  fidelity  to  her  hus- 
band. Hating  now  the  man  she  had  injured,  and 
whom  she  never  loved,  she  entered  ardently  into 
all  Mortimer's  conspiracies;  and  having  artfully  got 
into  her  hands  the  young  prince,  and  heir  of  the_ 
monarchy,  she  resolved  on  the  utter  ruin  of  the  king, 
as  well  as  of  his  favourite.  She  engaged  her  bro- 
ther to  take  part  in  the  same  criminal  purpose:  her 
court  was  daily  filled  with  exiled  barons  :  Mortimer 
lived  in  the  most  declared  intimacy  with  her,  and  a 
correspondence  was  secretly  carried  on  with  the  male- 
conten:  party  in  England^. 

5.  T.  Walsingham.    T.    de  la  More.    Ypod.  Kcust. 

When 


LET.  xxxvii.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  429 

When  Edward  was  informed  of  these  alarming  cir- 
cumstances, he  reqviired  the  queen  speedily  to  return 
with  the  prince.  But  Isabella  publicly  replied,  that 
she  would  never  set  foot  in  the  kingdom,  ..,«^ 

until  Hugh  Spenser  was  lorever  removed 
from  his  presence  and  councils.  This  declaration  proj» 
cured  her  great  popularity  in  England,  and  drew  a  de- 
cent veil  over  all  her  treasonable  enterprizes.  She  no 
sooner  arrived  with  her  son  in  England  than  the  king 
was  eniirely  deserted.  He  fled  to  W;ales.  The  elder 
Spenser,  now  earl  of  Winchester,  and  governor  of  the 
castle  of  Bristol,  was  delivered  by  the  garrison  into  the 

hands  of  his  enemies:  and  being  instantly  .  „„. 

.  ,  .  ,       .  -^    A.  D.    1326. 

condemned,  without  any  trial,  witness,  or 

accusation,  to  suffer  death,  he  was  hanged  on  a  gibbet 
in  his  armour.  His  unhappy,  but  more  criminal  son, 
soon  after  shared  the  same  fate:  and  the  king,  disap- 
pointed in  his  expectations  of  succour  from  the  Welsh, 
was  seized  among  their  mountains,  where  he  had  en- 
deavoured to  conceal  himself,  and  confined  in  Kenil- 
worth  castle.  Meanwhile  the  queen,  taking  advantage 
of  the  prevailing  delusion,  summoned,  in  Edward'* 
name,  a  parliament  at  Westminster;  where  the  king  was 
accused  of  incapacity  for  government, 
and  by  the  authority  of  her  partizans  de- 
posed. The  prince,  a  youth  of  fourteen  years  of  age, 
was  placed  on  the  throne,  and  the  queen  was  appointed 
regent  during  his  minority^. 

The  great  body  of  the  people  are  seldom  long  in  the 
wrong  with  respect  to  any  political  measure.  Corrupt- 
ed as  they  now  were  by  the  licentiousness  of  the  times, 
and  inflamed  by  faction,  they  could  not,  in  the  present 
instance,  remain  insensible  to  the  voice  of  nature.  A 
wife  had  first  dishonoured,  next  invaded,  and  then  de- 
throned her  husband;  she  had  made  her  infant  son  an 
instrument  in  this  unnatural  treatment  of  his  father;  and 
had,  by  false  pretences,  seduced  the  nation  into  rebel- 

fi.  Ypod  Neust.  T.  Walsinghsm.  T.  de  U  More.  Rymcr,  vol.  ir. 

Uoa 


430  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

lion  against  their  sovereign,  whose  weakness  was  his 
only  crime.  All  these  circumstances  were  so  odious  in 
themselves,  and  formed  such  a  complicated  scene  of 
guilt,  that  the  least  reflection  sufficed  to  open  men's  eyes, 
and  make  them  detest  so  flagrant  an  infringement  of 
every  public  and  private  duty. 

The  earl  of  Lancaster,  formerly  earl  of  Leicester, 
to  whose  custody  the  dethroned  monarch  had  been  com- 
mitted, was  soon  touched  with  sentiments  of  compassion 
and  generosity  towards  his  sovereign  j  and  beside  .using 
him  with  gentleness  and  humanity,  he  was  supposed  to 
have  entertained  more  honourable  intentions  in  his  fa- 
vour. The  king  was  therefore  taken  out  of  his  hands, 
and  delivered  over  to  lord  Berkeley,  Mautravers,  and 
Gournay,  who  were  entrusted  alternately,  each  for  a 
month,  with  the  charge  of  guarding  him.  While  in  the 
custody  of  Berkeley,  Edward  was  still  treated  with  the 
gentleness  and  respect  due  to  his  rank  and  his  misfor- 
tunes; but  when  the  turn  of  Mautravers  and  Gournay 
came,  every  species  of  indignity  was  offered  him,  as  if 
their  intention  had  been  to  break  entirely  the  unhappy 
prince's  spirit,  and  to  employ  his  sorrows  and  afflictions, 
instead  of  more  violent  and  more  dangerous  means,  as 
the  instruments  of  his  murder.  That  method  of  laying 
Edward  in  his  grave,  however,  appearing  too  slow  to 
tlie  impatient  Mortimer,  he  sent  orders  to  Gournay  and 
Mautravers  to  dispatch  the  king  secretly:  and  these 
ruffians  contrived  to  make  the  manner  of  his  deiath  as 
cruel  as  possible.  Taking  advantage  of  the  indisposition 
of  Berkeley,  in  whose  custody  he  then  was,  but  who 
was  incapacitated  by  sickness  from  attending  his  charge, 
they  came  to  Berkeley-castle,  and  put  themselves  in 
possession  of  the  king's  person.  They  threw  him  on  a 
bed:  held  him  down  violently  with  a  table,  which  they 
flung  over  him,  and  thrust  into  his  fundament  a  horn, 
through  which  they  burnt  his  bowels  with  a  red-hot  iron. 
But  although  outward  marks  of  violence  were  prevented 
by  this  expedient,  the  atrocious  deed  was  discovered  to 

aU 


LET.  XXXVII.]        MODERN  EUROPE.  431 

all  the  guards  and  attendants  by  the  screams  of  the  agon- 
izing king^. 

Thus  perished  the  unfortunate  Edward  II.  It  is 
not  easy  for  imagination  to  figure  a  man  more  innocent 
and  inoffensive,  or  a  prince  less  fitted  for  governing  a 
fierce  and  turbulent  people.  The  vigour  and  capacity 
of  the  son  made  ample  amends  for  his  father's  weak- 
ness. But  a  variety  of  objects  must  occupy  our  atten- 
tion, before  we  consider  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 


IHI W I  WlwJ<.HJW.IMJBIiLmJiaiMILWW 


LETTER    XXXVIII. 


THP:  GERMAN  EMPIRE  AND  ITS  DEPENDENCIES,  ROME  AND  THE 
ITALIAN  STATES,  FROM  THE  ELECTION  OF  RODULPH  09 
IIAPSBURGH,  TO   THE   DEATH  OF   HENYR   VII. 

X  HE  German  empire,  my  dear  Philip,  as  I  have 
already  had  occasion  to  observe,  could  not  properly 
be  said  to  have  a  head,  from  the  death  of  Frederic 
II.  till  the  election  of  Rodulph  count  of  Hapsburg. 
This  great  captain,  who  had  some  time 
exercised  the  office  of  grand  marshal  to  '  * 
Ottocarus  king  of  Bohemia,  and  was  raised  to  the  im- 
perial dignity  on  account  of  his  military  talents,  no 
sooner  found  himself  in  possession  of  the  august  throne, 
than  he  employed  his  authority  in  suppressing  the  disor- 
ders which  had  prevailed  during  the  interregnum;  and 
he  succeeded  so  well  in  his  endeavours,  that  peace  and 
security  were  soon  generally  re-established  in  Germany. 
He  destroyed  in  Thuringia  sixty  castles,which  were  the 
retreats  of  banditti,  and  ordered  ninety-nine  highway- 
men to  be  hanged  at  one  time  in  the  city  of  Erfurt'. 

Having  thus  in  some  measure  settled  the   interior 
police    of  the    empire,   Rodulph   assembled  a  diet  at 

Mentz,  where  he  granted  new  privileges  to 

•  •  A.D.  1274. 

Goslar  and  other  cities,  and  confirmed  those 

which  had  been  granted  by  his  predecessors.      Here 
7.  T.  Walsingham.  T.  de  la  More. 

also 


452  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

also  the  deliberations  of  the  assembly  turned  upon  the 
conduct  of  certain  princes,  who  had  protested  against 
the  election  of  the  count  of  Hapsburg.  Among  these 
was  Ottocarus  king  of  Bohemia,  against  whom  the  diet 
had  other  causes  of  dissatisfaction.  He  had  seized 
upon  the  duchy  of  Austria,  after  the  death  of  Frederic, 
the  last  duke ;  and  the  states  complained  of  the  oppres- 
sions which  they  suffered  under  this  usurper,  from  whom 
they  begged  to  be  delivered. 

A  second  diet  was  summoned  on  this  subject  at 
Augsburg:   where  Ottocarus  not  appearing,  or  doing 

homacre  by  his  embassadors,  was  declared  a 
A.  D.  1275.  o      J  ^  '         ^ 

rebel  to  the  empire.  His  possession  of  Aus- 
tria, Stiria,  Carniola,  and  Carinthia,  was  adjudged  ille- 
gal: and  the  emperor  was  desired  to  divest  him  of  those 
territories. 

When  this  sentence  was  notified  to  Ottocarus,  he 
arrogantly  exclaimed,  "  To  whom  should  I  do  homage! 
*'  — I  owe  Rodulph  nothing;  he  was  formerly  my  ser- 
**  vant!  and  I  paid  him  his  wages.  My  possessions  I  will 
*'  maintain  with  the  point  of  my  sword*. 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  Ottocarus  associ- 
ated himself  with  several  other  German  princes,  and 
among  the  rest  with  the  duke  of  Bavaria.  But  they 
were  all  at  last  obliged  to  submit;  and  the  proud  Otto- 
carus himself  not  only  relinquished  the  contested  terri- 
tories,  but  did  homage   for  Bohemia    and    Moravia. 

This  homage  was  performed  in  the  island  of  Cam- 
^  .  berg  in  the  Danube,  under  a  close  canopy, 
in  order  to  save  Ottocarus  from  a  public 
humiliation.  He  repaired  to  the  place,  all  covered  with 
gold  and  jewels.  Rodulph,  by  a  superior  pride,  receiv- 
ed hina  in  the  most  coarse  and  simple  dress;  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  ceremony,  either  by  accident  or  design, 
the  curtains  of  the  canopy  fell  back,  and  exposed  to  the 
eyes  of  the  people,  and  the  armies  that  lined  the  banks 
of  the  river,  the  haughty  king  on  his  knees,  with  his 
hands  joined^between  those  of  his  conqueror,  whom  he 

1.  Aiutat  Boior.  Heiss,  liv.  n,  e.  22.      2.  Mn  Sylv.  Hist.  Bobem. 

had 


*ET.  XXXVIII.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  4^3 

had  so  often  called  his   steward,  and  to  whom  he  now 

became  cup-bearer. 

The  wife  of  Ottocarus,   a  Russian  princess,  and  no 

less  haughty  than  her  husband,   was   so  much  hurt  by 

this  mortifying  circumstance,   that  she  induced  him  to 

renounce  the  treaty  he  had  concluded  with  ^^w^ 

„,,,,.•  A.  D.   12//. 

Kodulpn,  and  again  have  recourse  to  arms 

for  the  recovery  of  Austria.     The  emperor  immediately 

marched  against   him;   and  a   battle  ensued,  in  which 

Ottocarus  was  slain. 

Rodulph  now  discovered  himself  to  be  no  less  a 
politician  than  a  warrior.  He  gave  the  government  of 
Austria  and  its  appendages  to  his  eldest  son, 
count  Albert;  whom  he  afterwards,  in  a  '  * 
diet  at  Augsburg,  publicly  invested  with  that  duchy, 
which  was  incorporated  with  the  college  of  the  princes. 
Hence  the  rise  of  the  house  of  Austria.  And  he  at 
the  same  time  invested  Rodulph,  another  of  his  sons, 
with  the  county  of  Suabia,  which  belonged  to  him  in 
right  of  his  wife.  He  also  wisely  resolved  to  adhere 
to  the  articles  of  the  treaty  with  Ottocarus;  and  accord- 
ingly put  his  infant  son  Winceslaus  under  the  tutelage 
of  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg*. 

But  although  Rodulph's  authority  was  now  fully 
established  in  Germany,  he  was  far  from  being  master 
in  Italy.  The  imperial  crown  had  indeed  been  confirm- 
ed to  him  by  Gregory  X.  on  his  ceding  to  the  holy  see 
the  lands  of  the  countess  Matilda,  and  all  the  territories 
mentioned  in  the  grants  made  to  the  church  by  former 
emperors.  In  so  doing,  Rodulph  properly  yielded  no- 
thing but  the  right  of  receiving  homage  from  noblemen, 
who  never  did  it  without  reluctance,  and  cities  which  it 
was  not  in  his  power  to  command.  Venice,  Genoa,  and 
Pisa,  had  a  greater  number  of  ships  than  the  emperor 
could  muster  of  ensigns:  Florence  was  become  consider- 
able, and  already  the  nurse  of  the  liberal  arts. 

3.  Heiss,  ubi  sup.     Du  Mont.     Corp.  Diplom.  torn.  i. 
VOL.  I.  3  o  Rodulph 


454  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Rodalph  spent  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  in  establish- 
ing the  grandeur  of  his  family  in  Austria.  He  granted 
privileges  to  the  clergy;  bestowed  new  dignities  upon 
the  noblemen;  diminished  the  taxes;  built  and  repaired 
public  edifices;  and  behaved  with  so  much  generosity 
and  moderation,  as  won  the  hearts  of  all  men.  But  not- 
withstanding his  popularity,  he  could  not  procure  his  son 
Albert,  duke  of  Austria,  to  be  elected  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans;  a  disappointment  which,  together 
"  *  with  the  death  of  his  son  Rodulph  so  much 
chagrined  him  that  he  died  soon  after.  He  was  a  prince 
of  great  valour,  sagacity,  and  probity;  and  raised  the 
empire  from  a  state  of  misery  and  confusion,  to  the  en- 
joyment of  peace,  policy,  and  riches'^. 

After  an   interregnum  of  nine  months,   which  was 

productive  of  many  disorders,  the  German  princes  raised 

to  the  imperial  throne  Adolphus  of  Nassau, 
A.  D.  1292.  ,  ^  .      .   ,        v.-  1    ,     J         J       1 

on  the  same  prmciple  which  had  made  them 

choose  his  predecessor.  He  seemed  capable  of  main- 
taining the  glory  of  the  empire  at  the  head  of  its  armies, 
without  being  able  to  enslave  it. 

The  reign  of  this  prince  was  one  continued  scene  of 
troubles,  and  at  last  terminated  in  his  deposition.     His 
necessities  had  made  him  guilty  of  several  acts  of  injus- 
tice;  which  Albert  duke  of  Austria,   dissatisfied  at  not 
succeedincc  to  the  imperial  throne,  took  care 

A    D. 129/.  .  • 

to  represent  in  the  worst  light.  A  confede- 
racy was  formed  against  Adolphus ;  and  he  was  deposed 
by  the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  in  the  name  of  the  princea 
of  the  empire. 

4.  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  c.  22.  Barre,  torn.  vi.  Annal.  dePEmp.  torn.  it. 
Nothing  can  shew  in  a  stronger  light  Rodulph's  resolution  and  presence 
of  mind,  than  his  behaviour  at  his  coronation.  The  absence  of  the  impe- 
rial sceptre,  supposed  to  be  that  of  Charlemagne,  which  had  been  mislaid, 
seemed  to  afford  some  disaffected  noblemen  a  pretext  for  refusing  the  oath 
of  allegiance; — "  This  is  my  sceptre,"  said  Rodulph,  seizing  a  crucifix; 
and  all  the  princes  and  nobles  instantly  took  the  oath,  and  did  him  ho- 
mage a.s  emperor-    Hciss,  &c.  ubi  sup. 

"Six 


lET.  xxxviiT.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  *Sf 

"  Six  years  ago,"  said  the  archbishop,  "  the  empire 
*'  being  vacant,  we  canonically  elected  Adolphus  count 
*'  of  Nassau,  king  of  the  Romans,  knowing  at  that  time 
"  no  person  more  worthy  of  the  dignity.  At  first  he  con- 
"  ducted  himself  wisely,  following  the  counsels  of  the 
"  most  prudent  electors  and  princes  of  his  court.  But 
*'  he  began  by  degrees  to  despise  their  advice,  and  listen 
*'  to  the  counsels  of  young  persons  without  either  sense 
"  or  experience;  then  he  found  himself  destitute  of  means 
*'  and  friends  to  assist  him  sincerely  in  bearing  the  buj-,den 
*'  of  government.  The  electors  perceiving  his  indigene?^ 
*'  and  swayed  by  many  other  motives  have  demanded 
"  the  pope's  consent  to  depose  him,  and  chuse  another 
*'  emperor.  We  are  told  that  our  envoys  have  obtained 
'*  the  consent  of  his  holiness;  though  those  of  Adolphus 
*'  affirm  the  contrary:  but  we,  having  no  regard  to  any 
*'  authority  except  that  which  is  vested  in  ourselves,  and 
"  finding  Adolphus  incapable  of  governing  the  empire, 
'*'  do  depose  him  from  the  imperial  dignity,  and  elect 
^'  Albert,  duke  of  Austria,  king  of  the  Romans^." 

Adolphus,  apprized  of  this  election,  raised  the  siege 
of  Ruffach,  in  Alsace,  and  marched  towards  Spire,  where 
he  encamped.  He  was  reinforced  by  the  count  Palatine 
Rodulph,  Otho  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  the  cities  of  Spire 
and  Worms,  which  had  never  deserted  his  cause.  Albert 
advanced  towards  him,  in  order  to  dispute  the  imperial 
crown  by  arms.  Thev  engaged  between  Gelnsheim  and 
the  cloister  of  Rosendal,  and  the  battle  was  maintained 
with  much  obstinacy  on  both  sides.  In  the  heat  of  ac- 
tion Adolphus  singling  out  his  rival,  attacked  him  hand 
to  hand,  haughtily  exclaiming,  "  Here  you  shall  resign 
*'•  to  me  the  empire  and  your  life!"—"  Both,"  replied 
Albert,  "  are  in  the  hands  of  (iod;"  and  immediately 
struck  his  competitor  with  such  violence  in  ihe  face,  that 
he  fell  from  his  horse,  and  was  instantly  slain^'. 

During  the  reign  of  Adolphus,  and  also  of  his  pre- 
decessor   Rodulph,    the   Jews    were   persecuted   in  the 

5.  C'hron,  Colm.  4  Jl>i4. 

empire 


4S6  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

empire  with  great  cruelty,  on  a  supposition  that  they  had 
slain  several  Christian  children,  and  committed  other 
crimes,  v;^hich  excited  the  hatred  of  the  public.  They 
were  accused  of  having  stolen  a  consecrated  host;  and 
the  credulous  people  without  examining  into  the  matter, 
were  so  much  incensed  at  this  pretended  sacrilege,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Nuremberg,  Rottemberg,  Amberg,  and 
several  other  towns  of  Franconia  and  Bavaria,  seized  all 
the  unhappy  Israelites  that  fell  in  their  way;  committed 
them  to  the  flames,  and  drove  the  rest  to  such  despair, 
that  numbers  chose  rather  to  destroy  themselves  and 
families  than  run  the  hazard  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  merciless  Christians.  Nor  was  this  unhappy  people 
treated  with  more  indulgence  in  Holland  and  Friesland, 
their  present  asylum,  at  that  time  provinces  of  the  em- 
pire^. 

Though  Albert  had  been  elected  king  of  the  Romans 
before  his  victory  over  Adolphus,  and  consequently  be- 
came emperor  on  the  death  of  that  prince,  he  chose  to 
have  his  title  confirmed  by  anew  diet;  which  was  accord- 
ingly assembled  for  that  purpose  at  Franckfort, 
'the  elector  of  Triers  and  the  Palatine  not  hav- 
ing formerly  given  their  votes:  and  he  was  afterwards 
solemnly  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  concourse 
of  people  on  that  occasion  was  so  great,  that  the  duke  of 
Saxony,  the  emperor's  brother,  and  several  other  persons, 
were  squeezed  to  death  in  the  crowd^. 

The  first  years  of  Albert's  reign  were  disquieted  by  a 
quarrel  with  the  pope  and  the  ecclesiastical  electors. 
Boniface  VIII.  the  last  pontiff  who  pretended  to  dispose 
of  crowns,  and  who  carried  the  pretensions  of  the  apos- 
tolic see  as  high  as  any  of  his  predecessors,  took  part  with 
the  three  German  archbishops,  who  had  refused  to  answer 

7.  Annal  Steron.  Moslieim,  Hist.  £ccles.  vol.  iii.  Dr.  Mosheim  leaves  it 
doubtful  whether  the  accusations  against  the  Jews  were  true  or  false ;  but 
his  learned  and  judicious  translator,  in  a  note,  gives  reason  to  believe 
they  were  insidiously  forged.  8.  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  chap.  xxiv. 

the 


iiT.  XXXVIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  irf 

the  emperor's  summons.   They  were  at  length,  however, 

obliered  to  submit:  and  Boniface  confirmed  the  ^  „_  , 

1       •  f    ^1,  u        .  1  ,     A.D.  1303. 

election  or  Albert,  when  he  wanted  to  make 

him  the  instrument  of  his  vengeance  against  Philip  king 
of  France.  But  the  emperor  did  not  obtain  this  confirma- 
tion, it  is  said,  till  he  had  declared,  that  "  the  empire  was 
*'  transferred  by  £he  holy  see  from  the  Greeks  to  the  Ger- 
*'  mans;  that  the  sovereign  pontiff  had  granted  to  certain 
*'  ecclesiastical  and  secular  princes  the  right  of  electing  a 
**  king  of  the  Romans,  destined  to  the  empire;  and  that 
"  emperors  and  kings  derive  their  regal  power  from  the 
"  pope^." 

The  most  remarkable  event  in  this  reign  is  the  rise  of 
the  republic  of  Swisserland.  Fortified  by  their  natural 
situation,  surrounded  with  mountains,  torrents,  and 
woods,  the  Swiss  having  nothing  to  fear  from  strangers, 
had  lived  happily  in  a  rugged  country,  suited  only  to  men 
who  have  been  accustomed  to  a  frugal  and  laborious 
course  of  life.  Equality  of  condition  was  the  basis  of 
their  government.  They  had  been  free  from  time  im- 
memorial; and  when  any  of  their  nobility  attempted  to 
tyrannize,  they  were  either  altogether  expelled  or  reduced 
within  bounds  by  the  people.  But  although  the  Swiss 
were  extremely  jealous  of  their  liberty,  they  had  always 
been  submissive  to  the  empire,  on  which  they  depended; 
and  many  of  their  towns  were  free  and  imperial. 

"When  Rodulph  of  Hapsburg  was  elected  emperor, 
several  lords  of  castles  formally  accused  the  cantons  of 
Ury,  Schwitz,  and  Underwald,  of  having  withdrawn 
themselves  from  their  feudal  subjection.  But  Rodulph, 
who  had  formerly  fought  against  those  petty  tyrants,  de- 
cided in  favour  of  the  citizens;  and  thenceforth  these 
three  cantons  were  under  the  patronage,  but  not  the  do- 
minion of  the  house  of  Austria. 


9.     Hist,   de   Demel.  de  Borif.  VIII.  avcc  PkHip  !e  Bel.  Moshcim, 
Ecclet.  Miit.  vol.  iii. 

Rodulph 


458  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Rodulph  always  treated  the  Swiss  with  great  indul. 
gence,  and  generously  defended  their  rights  and  privi- 
leges against  the  noblemen  who  attempted  to  infringe 
them.  Albert's  conduct  in  these  respects,  was  just  the 
reverse  of  his  father's  :  he  wanted  to  govern  the  Swiss 
as  an  absolute  sovereign,  and  had  formed  a  scheme  for 
erecting  their  country  into  a  principality  for  one  of  his 
sons.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  he  endeavoured 
to  persuade  the  cantons  of  Ury,  Schwitz,  and  Under- 
wald,  to  submit  voluntarily  to  his  dominion.  In  case  of 
compliance,  he  promised  to  rule  them  with  great  lenityj 
but  finding  them  tenacious  of  their  independency,  and 
deaf  to  all  his  solicitations,  he  resolved  to  tame  them  by 
rougher  methods,  and  appointed  governors,  who  domir 
neered  over  them  in  the  most  arbitrary  manner. 

The  tyranny  of  these  governors  exceed  all  belief. 
Geisler,  governor  of  Uri,  ordered  his  hat  to  be  fixed  up- 
on a  pol^  in  the  market-place  of  AUorf,  and  every  passen- 
ger was  commanded,  on  pain  of  death,  to  pay  obeisance 
to  it.  But  the  independent  spirit  of  William  Tell,  who 
among  others  had  projected  the  deliverance  of  his 
country,  disdained  to  pay  that  absurd  homage.  On  this 
the  governor  ordered  him  to  be  hanged;  but  remitted 
the  punishment,  on  condition  that  he  should  strike  an 
apple  from  his  son's  head  with  an  arrow.  Tell,  who 
was  an  excellent  marksman,  accepted  the  alternative,  and 
had  the  good  fortune  to  strike  off  the  apple  without  hurt- 
ing his  son.  But  Geisler  perceiving  a  second  arrow  un? 
der  William's  coat,  inquired  for  what  purpose  that  was 
intended:  "  It  was  designed  for  thee,"  replied  the  in? 
dignant  Swiss,  "  if  I  had  killed  my  son."  For  that  heroic 
answer  he  was  doomed  to  perpetual  imprisonment, 
though  fortune  happily  put  it  out  of  the  governor's 
power  to  carry  this  sentence  into  execution. 

This  and  other  acts  of  wanton  tyranny  determine^ 
Arnauld  Melchtat,  a  native  of  Underwald,  Werner  Straf* 
facher  of  Schwiz,  and  Walter  Furtz,  of  Ury,  to  put  in 
jcxecution  those  measures  which  they  had  concerted  for 

delivering 


LET.  XXXVIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  439 

delivering  themselves  and  their  country  from  the  Austri- 
an dominion.  Naturally  bold  and  enterprising,  and  unit- 
ed by  a  long  intimacy  of  friendship,  they  had  frequent- 
ly met  in  private  to  deliberate  upon  this  interesting 
subject:  each  associated  three  others  ;  and  these  twelve 
men  accomplished  their  important  enter- 

.'     ,    *i         1  r  •        ,       ^■l         A.   D.     1308. 

prize,  without  the  loss  or  a  single  liie. 
Having  prepared  the  inhabitants  of  their  several  cantons 
for  a  revolt,  they  surprised  the  Austrian  governors,  and 
conductedthem  tothe  frontiers,  obligingthem  topromise 
upon  oath  never  more  to  serve  against  the  Helvetian 
nation,  then  dismissed  them'";  an  instance  of  mode- 
ration not  perhaps  to  be  equalled  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, of  a  people  incensed  against  their  oppressors,  and 
who  had  them  in  their   power! 

Thus,  my  clear  Philip,  these  three  cantons,  Ury, 
Schwitz,  and  Underwald,  delivered  themselves  from 
the  Austrian  yoke,  and  established  that  liberty  which 
they  still  enjoy.  The  other  cantons  soon  engaged  in 
this  confederacy,  which  gave  birth  to  the  republic  of 
Swisserland.  Never  did  any  people  fight  longer  or 
harder  for  their  liberty  than  the  Swiss.  They  have 
purchased  it,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  by  above 
sixty  battles  against  the  Austrians;  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  they  will  long  preserve  it,  for  never  were  the 
beneficial  effects  oi  liberty  more  remarkable  than  in 
Swisserland.  The  change  of  government  seems  to  have 
produced  a  change  in  the  face  of  the  country.  The 
rude  soil,  which  lay  neglected  under  cruel  and  tyranni- 
cal masters,  now  appears  cultivated;  the  craggy  rocks 
are  covered  with  vines;  and  the  wild  heath,  tilled  by 
the  hands  of  freemen,  is  become  a  fruitful  plain. 

When  Albert  was  ready  to  hazard  his  forces  against 
that  courage  which  is  inspired  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
new-born  liberty,  he  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  rapacity  and 
injustice.      His  own  nephew,  John,  who  could  not  ob- 

10.  Stetler,  Annal.  Hthefle. 

tain 


440  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

tain  from  him  the  enjoyment  of  his  patrimony,  resolved 
to  make  sure  of  his  revenge.  This  injured  youth,  con- 
federating with  three  others,  stabbed  the  emperor  in 
presence  of  his  court  and  army,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Prus,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Swisserland". 

No  sovereign  was  ever  less  regretted,  though  fevr 
have  died  more  tragically.  He  did  not  want  valour, 
or  abilities  ;  but  a  desire  of  aggrandizing  his  family 
influenced  his  whole  conduct,  and  made  him  violate 
every  public  and  private  tie. 

The    imperial  throne   continued  vacant  for  seven 
months  after  the   assassination  of  Albert.      At  length 
the  electors  assembled  at  Frankfort,  and  chose  Henry 
^  count  of  Luxembourg;   who  Avas  crowned, 

without  opposition,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  A 
diet  was  soon  after  held  at  Spire ;  where  sentence  of 
death  was  pronounced  against  prince  John  for  the  mur- 
der of  his  uncle,  the  late  emperor;  whose  sons,  at  the 
same  time,  demanded  the  investiture  of  Austria  and 
the  other  hereditary  dominions  of  their  father,  which 
Henry  intended  to  seize.  They  obtained  their  de- 
mand, on  making  him  sensible,  that  as  the  house  of 
Austria  had  already  sent  two  emperors  out  of  the  world, 
it  might  yet  prove  fatal  to  a  third,  if  he  did  not  desist 
from  his  unjust  pretensions'^. 

At  this  assembly  also  appeared  Elizabeth,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Winceslaus  king  of  Bohemia.  She  had 
been  contracted  to  John,  count  of  Luxembourg,  son  of 
the  present  emperor,  Henry  VII.  and  now  king  of  Bo- 
hemia. But  the  marriage  had  been  delayed,  from  time 
to  time,  under  different  pretences.  The  princess  there- 
fore demanded,  that  the  contract  might  be  fufiUed,  or 
cause  shewn  why  the  nuptials  should  not  be  solemn- 
ized: and  understanding  that  a  report  had  been  spread 
to  the  disadvantage   of  her   chastity,  she   repaired  to 

11.  Rebdorf.  ad  ann.  1308, 

12.  Heifis,  lib.  ii.  chap.  25. 

the 


LET.  xKxviii.j     MODERN  EUROPE.  441 

the  emperor's  anti-chamber,  undressed  herself  to  the 
shift,  in  presence  of  the  ladies  there  a;;sembled,  and 
approaching  Henry  in  that  condition,  requested  that 
she  might  be  immediately  examined  by  m. irons.  She 
was  accordingly  committed  to  the  inspection  of  some 
experienced  ladies  and  midwives,  who  unanimously  de- 
clared  her  an  unspotted  virgin;  and,  in  consequence  of 
their  testimony,  the  nuptials  were  solemnized  with  great 
magnificence,  in  presence  of  the  electors  and  other 
princes  and  noblemen  of  the  diet'^. 

This  is  a  point  on  which  our  modern  physicians 
would  have  had  many  consultations.  They  pretend 
that  the  signs  of  virginity  are  altogether  precarious, 
though  every  old  woman  affirms  them  infallible.  And 
fortunately  the  daughter  of  Winceslaus  was  judged  by 
old  women:  for  so  scrupulous  were  the  bridegrooms  of 
those  days  on  the  article  of  chastity,  that  the  slightest 
suspicion  in  regard  to  it  was  sufficient  to  obstruct  the 
marriage,  or  ruin  the  happiness  of  a  couple  for  life. 

The  emperors  from  the  time  of  Frederic  II.  seem^ 
ed  to  have  lost  sight  of  Italy.  But  Henry  VII.  as  soon 
as  he  had  settled  the  afHxirs  of  the  north,  resolved  to  re- 
establish the  imperial  authority  in  that  country.  With 
this  view   a    diet  was  held  at  Frankfort j 

.  -         A.    D.     lolU, 

where  proper  supplies  being  granted  lor 
the  empe.or's  journey,  well  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Roman  Expedition,  he  set  out  for  Italy,  accompanied 
by  the  dukes  of  Austria  and  Bavaria,  the  archbishop  of 
Triers,  the  bishop  of  Liege,  the  counts  of  Savoy  and 
Flanders,  with  other  noblemen,  and  the  militTa  of  alt 
the  imperial  towns. 

Italy  was  still  divided  by  the  factions  of  the  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines,  who  butchered  one  another  without  hu- 
ir.anity  or  remorse.  But  their  contest  was  no  longer  the 
same:  it  was  not  now  a  straggle  between  the  empire  and 
%he  priesthood,  but  betv/een  faction  and  faction,  inflam- 

13.  Id.  ibid. 
VOL.  I.  2  ¥  cd 


44ft  THE   HISTORY  OF  [fart  r. 

eel  by  mutual  jealousies  and  animosities.  Pope  Clement 
V.  bad  been  obliged  to  leave  Rome,  wbich  was  distract- 
ed by  the  anarchy  of  popular  government.  1  he  Colon- 
nas,  the  Ursini,  and  the  Roman  barons  divided  the  city; 
and  this  division  was  the  cause  oi  the  long  abode  of  the 
popes  in  France,  as  v*  e  shall  have  occasion  to  see  in  the 
history  of  that  kingdom;  so  that  Rome  seemed  equally 
lost  to  the  popes  and  the  emperors.  Sicily  was  in  the 
possess-ion  of  the  house  of  Arragon,  in  consequen^ce  of 
the  famous  massacre  called  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  which 
delivered  that  island  from  tlie  tyranny  of  the  French,  as 
shall  be  afterward  more  fully  related.  Carobert,  king 
of  flungary,  disputed  the  kingdom  of  Naples  with  his 
uncle  Robert,  son  of  Charles  II,  of  the  house  of  An- 
jou.  T'  -  house  of  Este  had  established  itself  at  Fer- 
rara:  ai  the  Venetians  wanted  to  make  themselves 
masters  oi"  that  country.  The  old  league  of  the  Italian 
cities  no  longer  subsisted.  It  had  been  formed  with  no 
other  viev/  than  to  oppose  the  emperors:  and  since  they 
had  neglected  Italy,  the  cities  were  wholly  employed  in 
aggrandizing  themselves  at  the  expense  of  each  other. 
The  Florentines  and  the  Genoese  made  war  upon  the 
republic  of  Pisa.  Every  city  was  also  divided  into 
faction  within  itself;  Florence  between  the  blacks  and 
the  whites^  and  Milan,  between  the  Visconti  and  the 
Turriani. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles  Henry  VII.  appeared 
in  Italy,  and  caused  himself  to  be  crowned 
king  of  Lombardy  at  Milan.  The  Guelphs 
had  concealed  the  old  iron  crown  of  the  Lombard  kings, 
as  if  the  right  of  reigning  were  attached  to  a  particular 
circlet  of  metal.  But  Henry,  contemning  such  a  thought, 
ordered  a  new  crown  to  be  made,  with  v/hich  the  cere- 
monv  of  inauguration  was  performed'*. 

Cremona  Vv'as  the  first  place  that  ventured  to  oppose 
the  emperor.     He  reduced  it  by  force,  and  laid  it  under 

14.  Struv.  period,  ix.  sect.  4. 
.  heavy 


T.iiT.  XXXVIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  44S 

heavy  contributions.  Parma,  Vicenza,  and  Plaeen-tia,  made 
peace  with  him  on  reasonal)le  conditions.  Padua  paid  a 
hundred  thousand  crowns.,  and  received  an  imperial  of- 
ficer as  governor.  The  Venetians  presented  lienrj'  with 
a  large  sum  of  money,  an  imperial  crown  of  gold  enriched 
with  diamonds,  and  a  chain  of  very  curious  workmanship. 
Brescia  made  a  desperate  resistance,  and  sustained  a  very 
long  siege;  in  the  course  of  which  the  emperor's  brother 
was  slain,  and  his  army  diminished  to  such  a  degree,  that 
the  inhabitants  ventured  to  march  out,  under  the  com- 
mand of  their  prefect,  Thibault  de  Drussati,  and  give 
him  battle.  But  they  \vev<  repulsed  with  great  loss,  after 
tin  obstinate  engagement,  -and  at  last  obliged  to  submit. 
Their  city  was  dismantled. 

From  Brescia  Henry  marched  to  Genoa,  where  he  was 
received  with  expressions  of  joy,  and  splendid- 
ly entertained.  He  next  proceeded  to  Rom^e;"  ' 
where,  after  much  bloodshed,  he  received  the  imperial 
crown  froin  the  hands  of  the  cardinals.  Clement  V.  who 
had  originally  invited  Henry  into  Italy,  growing  jealous 
of  his  success,  had  leagued  with  Robert  king  of  Naples, 
and  the  Ursini  faction,  to  oppose  his  entrance  into  Rome. 
He  entered  it  in  spite  of  them,  by  the  assistance  of  the 
Colcnnas^-j. 

Now  master  of  that  ancient  city,  Henry  appotntcd  it 
a  governor;  and  ordered,  that  all  the  cities  and  states  of 
Italy  should  pa}-  him  an  annual  tribute.  In  this  order  he 
comprehended  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  to  which  he  was 
going  to  make  good  his  claim  of  superiority  by  i  ^  <  ^ 

arms,  v/hen  he  died  at  Benevento,  of  poison  as    *     * 
it  is  commonly  supposed,  given  him  by  a   DomiKicaft 
friar,  in  the  consecrated  wine  of  the  sacrament'^. 

During  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  who 
•was  a  valiant  and  politic  prince,  the  knights  of  the 
Teutonic  order  aggrandized  themselves,  by  making  war 
upon  the  Pagans  of  the  north.      They  possessed  them- 

J5.  Struv.  ul)i  tup.     Cuspin,  Vit.  Hck.  Vll.  It'.  Id.  il)i(]. 

selves 


4«4  THE   HISTORY  OF  [?art  i. 

selves,  of  Samogitia,  after  butchering  all  the  inhabitants 
v.'ho  refused  to  embrace  Christianity:  they  took  Dantzick, 
and  purchased  Pomerellia  of  a  marquis  of  Brandenburg, 
to  whora  it  then  belonged.  But  while  the  order  was 
making  these  acquisitions  in  Europe,  it  lost  all  its  pos- 
sessions in  Asia '^. 

The  affairs  of  France  now  claim  our  attention. 


LETTER   XXXIX. 

FRANCE,  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF   LEWIS  IX.  TILL  THE  ACCESSIOW 
OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VAtOIS. 

Y  OU  have  already,  my  dear   Philip,   seen   the' 
pious  Lewis  IX.  perish  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  a  se- 
cond   expedition   against  the    infidels.      The 
'most  remarkable  circumstance  in  the  reign  of 
his  son  and  successor,  Philip  III.  surnamed  the  Hardy, 
a  prince  of  some  merit,  but  much  inferior  to  his  father, 
is  the  interest  that  he   took   in  the  affairs  of  his  uncle 
Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily.    This  cir- 
cumstance naturally  leads  us  to  an  account  of  the  famous 
Sicilian   Vespers,   and  of  the  war  between   France    and 
"Arragon. 

Charles,  by  the  severity  of  his  government,  had  not 
only  rendered  himself,  but  his  family  odious  to  the  Si- 
cilians; and  the  insolence  and  debauchery  of  the  French 
troops  had  excited  an  irreconcileable  aversion  against  the^ 
whole  nation.  At  the  same  time  the  boundless  ambition 
of  this  prince,  who  was  actually  preparing  to  attack  the 
Greek  emperor,  Michael  Paleogus,  and  was  suspected  to 
f^  have  an  eye  to  the  German  empire,  raised  a  general 
jealousy  of  him  among  his  neighbours.    Of  that   num- 

17.  Pet.  de  Diiisburgh,  Chronic.  Truffx.      Soligrac,    Hist,  de  Fologne. 
Barre,  Hist.  d'A'.lemagr.c,  torn,  vi, 

ber 


LEf.  XXXIX.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  44y 

ber  was  pope  Nicholas  III.  who  particularly  dreaded 
Charles's  power  ;  and,  if  he  is  not  slandered  by  the 
French  historians,  contrived  the  scheme  of  his  humilia- 
tion, though  it  did  not  take  effect  till  after  the  death  of  his 
holiness.  It  was  conducted  by  John  di  Prodica,  a  Sicilian 
nobleman,  who  had  secretly  prepared  the  minds  of  hia 
countrymen  for  a  revolt:  and  an  accident  gave  it  birth. 

On   the  evening  of  Easter-day,   as  the    French  and 
Sicilians   were    going   in   procession    to    the  ioqo 

church  oi  JMontreale,  m  the  neighbourhood 
of  Palermo,  a  bride  happened  to  pass  by  with  her  train; 
when  one  Droguet,  a  Frenchman,  instantly  ran  to  her, 
and  began  to  use  her  in  a  very  rude  manner,  under 
pretence  of  searching  for  concealed  arms.  A  young  Si- 
cilian, flaming  with  resentment,  stabbed  Droguet  to  the 
heart;  a  tumult  ensued,  and  two  hundred  Frenchmen 
were  slain  on  the  spot.  The  enraged  populace  now  ran 
to  the  city,  crying  aloud,  "  Kill  the  French',  kill  the 
*'  French!" — and,  without  any  distinction  of  age  or  sex, 
murdered  every  person  of  that  nation  found  in  Palermo. 
The  same  fury  spread  itself  through  the  whole  island,  and 
produced  a  general  massacre.  The  rage  of  the  conspi- 
rators was  so  great,  that  they  did  not  even  spare  their 
own  relations,  but  ript  up  women  with  child  by  French- 
men, and  dashed  the  half-formed  infants  against  the 
walls;  while  the  priests,  catching  the  general  frenzy, 
butchered  all  their  French  penitents'. 

Peter,  king  of  Arragon,  who  had  married  the  daughter 
of  Mainfroy,  the  former  usurper  of  Sicily,  supported  the 
Sicilians  in  their  rebellion,  and  openly  claimed  the  king- 
dom in  right  of  his  wife.  The  Sicilians  received  him  with 
open  arms.  He  was  crowned  at  Palermo;  and  Charles 
of  Anjou  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  island,  after  having 
besieged  Messina  for  six  weeks  in  vain.  He  had  now 
no  hopes  but  from  France,  v/here  the  nobility  in  general 
were  well  affected  to  him,  and  readily  offered  to  furnish 

1.  Sponda.n.     Malcspina.     Giannone,  Hist,  dl  Napol. 

troops 


446  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part 


I. 


troops  for  his  support.  In  this  disposition  they  were  en- 
couraged bj'  Philip  III.  Martin  IV.  who  had  succeed- 
ed Nicholas  III.  in  the  see  of  Rome,  Vv-as  also  entirely 
in  the  interest  of  Charles;  who  might  probably  have 
recovered  Sicily,  had  he  not  imprudently  agreed  to  de- 
cide the  dispute  with  Peter  by  single  combat. 

The  king  of  Arragon,  who  had  the  duel  very  little  at 
heart,  was  by  that  means  enabled  to  amuse  his  rival,  and 
fix  his  own  family  on  the  throne  of  Sicily,  which  became 
a  separate  kingdom  from  Naples.  In  the  mean  time  the 
pope  excommunicated  Peter,  and  gave  his  dominions  to 
any  of  the  younger  sons  of  France  that  the  king  should 
I'^o'^  choose  to  name.  Philip  III.  flattered  by  this 
*  proposal,  declared  his  son  Charles  of  Valois 
king  of  Arragon  and  Valentia,  and  count  of  Barcelona. 
He  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  in  order 
to  realize  these  honours;  and  he  furnished,  at  the  same 
time,  his  uncle  Charles  of  Anjou  with  a  fleet  and  army 
for  the  recovery  of  Sicily.  Splendid  projects!  which 
proved  the  ruin  of  both. 

Charles  had  left  his  son  of  the  same  name  at  Naples, 
with  strict  orders  to  risk  nothing  until  his  return  with 
succours  from  France.  But  that  young  prince,  provoked 
by  the  Arragonese  fleet,  sailed  out  with  the  force  under 

<^^.    his  command,   and  was  defea.ted  and  taken 
A.  D.  1284.       .  ,     c        X-    f    I,     ^ 

prisoner  before  his  father  s  return;  a  circum- 
stance which  so  much  affected  the  king,  that  he  is  said 
to  have  strangled  himself  with  a  halter,  a  death  sufiicient- 
ly  mild  for  such  a  tyrant*. 

Meanwhile  the  French  army,  under  the  command  of 
Philip,  had  penetrated  into  Catalonia,  and  laid  siege  to  Gi- 
ronne,  which  made  a  gallant  defence.  The  king  of  Arragon 
being  in  the  neighbourhood  with  a  small  army,  attacked  a 
convoy  going  to  the  French  camp,  and  received  a  mortal 
wound.     Gironne  surrendered;  and  Philip  having  put  a 


2.  Id.  ibid. 


good 


LET.   XXXIX.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  447 

good  garrison  into  it,  dismissed  part  of  his  fleet,  which 
had  been  principally  hired  iVom  the  Italian  states.  Roger 
di  Loria,  the  Arragonese  admiral,  who  durst  not  attack 
the  French  fleet  while  entire,  burnt  and  destroyed  it 
when  divided,  seizin?:  all  the  money  and  pro-  ^nn^ 

,      ,     ■  r'  ^  A.  D.  128j. 

visions  intended  lor  the  support  ot  the  army; 
and  these  losses  sunk  so  deeply  into  the  mind  of  Philip, 
that  he  secretly  repassed  the  Pyrennees,  and  died  a  few- 
days  after  at  Perpignan\ 

Philip  HI.  was  the  first  French  monarch  who  granted 
letters  of  nobility,  which  he  bestowed  on  Ralph  the 
Goldsmith.  In  so  doing,  he  only  restored  the  ancient 
constitution  of  the  Franks  j  who,  being  all  of  one  blood, 
were  esteemed  equally  noble,  and  alike  capable  of  the 
highest  offices.  The  notion  of  a  particular  and  distinct 
noblesse  took  its  rise  tov/ards  the  close  of  the  second  race, 
when  many  of  the  officers  of  the  crown  had  usurped,  and 
converted  into  hereditary  dignities,  the  offices  and  juris, 
dictions  which  they  received  from  royal  favour*. 

The  reign  of  Philip  IV.  surnamed  the  Fair,  the  son 
and  successor  of  Philip  the  Hardy,  forms  an  sera  in  the 
history  of  France,  by  the  civil  and  political  regulations 
to  v/hich  it  gave  birth;  the  institution  of  the  supreme 
tribunals,  called  Parliaments,  and  the  formal  admission 
of  the  commons,  or  third  estate,  into  the  general  assemblies 
of  the  nation.  How  the  French  commons  came  after- 
wards to  be  excluded  from  these  assemblies,  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  see  in  the  course  of  our  narration. 

The  first  care  of  Philip  was  to  compose  all  differences 
with  his  neighbours,  as  he  found  his  finances  exhausted: 
and  this  hi  was  enabled  to  eftect  by  the  mediation  ot 
Edward  I.  of  England,  against  whom  he  afterwards- 
ungenerously  commenced  hostilities,  while  that  monarch 
was  engaged  in  a  war  with  Scotland.  Philip  also  at- 
tempted, at  the  expense  of  much  blood  and  treasure,  to 
sei^e  the  country  of   Flanders,  which  had  leagued  with 

3.  Naj.  Chrttn.  4.  Henault.  torn.  i. 

England. 


448  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

England.  But  as  these  wars  were  neither  distinguished 
by  any  remarkable  event,  nor  followed  by  any  conse- 
quence that  altered  the  state  of  either  country,  I  shall 
proceed  to  the  transactions  between  Philip  and  the  see  of 
Rome,  and  the  extinction  of  the  order  of  Knights 
Templars. 

Pope  Boniface  VIII.  of  whose  arrogance  I  have  al- 
ready had  occasion  to  speak,  prohibited  the  clergy  in 
general  from  granting  any  aids  or  subsidies  to  princes 
without  his  leave.  Philip  IV.  who  was  no  less  haughty 
than  his  holiness,  and  very  needy,  thought  the  clergy,  as 
being  the  richest  order  of  the  state,  ought  to  contribute 
to  the  wants  of  the  crown,  when  the  situation  of  affairs 
made  it  necessary,  and  without  any  application  to  Rome; 
he  therefore  encountered  the  pope's  bull  by  an  edict, 
forbidding  any  of  the  French  clergy  to  send  money  abroad 
without  the  royal  permission.  Tiiis  was  the  first  cause 
of  the  famous  quarrel  between  Boniface  and  Philip;  and 
the  insolence  of  a  bishop  of  Pamiers  threw  things  into 
a  still  greater  ferment. 

This  man,  named  Bernard  Saissetti,  who  had  re- 
belled against  the  king  in  his  diocese,  was  appointed  by 

Boniface  legate  to   the    French   court.      An 
A,  D.  1303.     ,         .  ^  ,.         ,        .         .    1      -.u        1- 

obnoxious  subject  thus  mvested  wuh  a  chg- 

nity,  which,  according  to  the  see  of  Rome,  made  him 
equal  to  the  sovereign  himself,  came  to  Paris  and  braved 
Philip,  threatening  his  kingdom  with  an  interdict.  A 
layman,  who  had  behaved  in  such  a  manner,  would  have 
been  punished  with  death,  but  the  person  of  a  church- 
man was  sacred;  and  Philip  was  satisfied  with  delivering 
this  incendiary  into  the  hands  of  his  metropolitan,  the 
archbishop  of  Narbonne,  not  daring  to  treat  him  as  a 
criminal. 

Pope  Boniface, enragedattheconfinementofhislegate, 
issued  a  bull,  declaring,  "  That"  the  vicar  of  Christ  is 
*'  vested  with  full  authority  over  the  kings  and  kingdoms 
"  of  the  earth:"  and  the  clergy  of  France  received,  at  the 
same  time,  an  order  from  his  holiness  to  repair  to  Rome. 

A 


lET.  XXXIX.]    MODERN  EUROPE.  449 

A  French  archdeacon  carried  this  bull,  and  these  orders 
to  the  king;  commanding  him  under  pain  of  excommu- 
nication, to  acknowledge  the  pope  as  his  temporal  sove- 
reign. This  insolence  was  answered  with  a  moderation 
little  suited  to  the  character  of  Philip.  He  contented 
himself  with  ordering  the  pope's  bull  to  be  thrown  into 
the  fire,  and  prohibiting  the  bishops  from  departing  the 
kingdom.  Forty  of  them,  however,  with  many  of  the 
heads  of  religious  orders,  w^ent  to  Rome,  notwithstanding 
the  king's  prohibition.  For  this  trespass  he  seized  all 
their  temporalities. 

While  Boniface  and  his  council  were  considering 
the  conduct  of  Philip,  and  by  means  of  his  confessor 
brought  his  most  secret  thoughts  under  review.,  that 
politic  prince  assembled  the  states  of  his  kingdom.  They 
acknowledged  his  independent  right  to  the  sovereignity 
of  France,  and  disavowed  the  pope's  claim.  It  was  oa 
this  occasion,  that  the  representatives  of  cities  were  first 
regularly  summoned  to  the  national  assembly-''.    \ 

Philip  was  now  at  full  liberty  to  treat  the  pope  as  an 
open  enemy.  He  accordingly  leagued  with  the  family 
of  Colonna,  and  sent  William  de  Dogaret,  a  celebrated 
lawyer,  into  Italy,  with  a  sum  of  money,  in  order  to  raise 
troops.  A  body  of  desperadoes  were  suddenly  and  se- 
cretly collected,  with  which  William  and  Sciarra  Colonna 
surprised  Boniface  at  Anagni,  a  town  in  his  own  territo- 
ries, and  the  place  of  his  birth,  exclaiming,  ^'  Let  the 
"  pope  die!  and  long  live  the  king  of  France!"  Boni- 
face, however,  did  not  lose  his  courage.  He  dressed 
himself  in  his  cope,  put  the  tiara  upon  his  head:  and, 
holding  the  keys  in  one  hand,  and  the  cross  in  the  other, 
presented  himself  with  an  air  of  majesty  before  his  con- 
querors. On  this  occcasion,  it  is  said,  Sciarra  had  the 
brutality  to  strike  him,  crying  out,  "  Tyrant!  renounce 
"  the  pontificate,  which  thou  hast  dishonoured." — "  I 
"  am  pope,"  replied  Boniface,  with  a  look  of  intrepidity, 

5.  Henawlt,  ubi  sup.  Du  Chesne.  F«lyd.  Virj. 
YOL.  I.  3  q,  "  and 


450  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

**  and  I  will  die  pope  1"  This  gallant  behaviour  had 
such  an  eftect  on  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants,  that  they 
rose  against  his  enemies,  and  rescued  him  from  their 
hands.  But  Boniface  was  so  much  affected  by  the  in- 
dignities which  had  been  offered  him,  that  he  died  in  a 
few  days". 

On   the    death    of   Boniface,  the   cardinals   elected 
Nicholas    Boccacini,    who   took    the    name    of    Bene- 
dict XI.      He  was  a  mild  and  good  man;   and  being  de- 
sirous of  using  his  power  for  the  promoting  of  peace,  he 
revoked  the   sentence  of  excommunication,  which  his 
predecessor  had  fulminated  against  Philip  the  Fair.   He 
also  pardoned  the  Colonnas;  and  shewed  a  great  dispo- 
sition, to    reform  that    corruption    which    had    spread 
itself  through  the  dominions  of  the  church.      But  these 
proceedings,  so  notorious  in  themselves,  excited  the  ha- 
tred of  his  licentious  and  vindictive  country- 
men, who  suddenly  took  him  off  by  poison. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Clement  V.   who  being  a  French- 
man, and  entirely  in  the  interest  of  Philip,  fixed  his  resi- 
dence in  France.      By  means  of  this  pope  the 
*  French  monarch  hoped  to  have  obtained  the 
empire  for  his  brother,  Charles  of  Valois,  and 

A.  D.  1310.  ^    ,,  •        1       1  •  r    T  I-- 

actually  re-united  the   city  oi   L.yons  to  his 
kingdom^ 

But  although  this  was  justly  considered  as  a  great 
acquisition,  Philip  had  occasion  for  the  assistance  of 
Clement  in  an  affair  that  lay  nearer  his  heart.  I  allude 
to  the  suppression  of  the  order  of  Knights  Templars. 
That  religious  and  military  order,  which  took  its  rise, 
as  has  been  already  observed,  during  the  first  fervour 
of  the  crusades,  had  made  rapid  advances  in  credit  and 
authority;  and  had  acquired,  from  the  piety  of  the  faith- 
ful, ample  possessions  in  every  Christian  country,  but 
more  Especially  in  France,      The  great  riches  of  those 

6.  A.  Baillet,  Sist.  de  Demelez  du  Boniface  VIII.  awe  Philip  U  Bel. 
?.  Trivet.  Annai.  ^wt.Meniir.  Sonc.  de  Lyont, 

knights 


LKT.  XXXIX.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  451 

knights,  and  other  concurring  causes,  had,  however, 
relaxed  the  severity  of  their  discipline.  Convinced  by- 
experience,  by  fatigues,  and  by  dangers,  of  the  folly  of 
their  fruitless  expeditions  into  Asia,  they  chose  rather 
to  enjoy  in  ease  their  opulent  fortunes  in  Europe;  and 
b^ing  all  men  of  birth,  they  scorned  the  ignoble  occupa- 
tions of  a  monastic  life,  and  passed  their  time  wholly  in 
the  fashionable  amusements  of  hunting,  gallantry,  and 
the  pleasures  of  the  table.  By  these  means  the  Tem- 
plars had  in  a  great  measure  lost  that  popularity,  which 
first  raised  them  to  honour  and  distinction.  But  the 
immediate  cause  of  their  destruction  proceeded  from 
the  cruel  and  vindictive  spirit  of  Philip  the  Fair. 

The  severity  of  the  taxes,  and  the  mal-administra- 
tlon  of  Philip  and  his  council  in  regard  to  the  coin, 
which  they  had  repeatedly  altered  in  its  value,  occa- 
sioned a  sedition  in  Paris.  The  Knights  Templars 
were  accused  of  being  concerned  in  the  tumult.  They 
were  rich,  as  has  been  observed ;  and  Philip  was  no  less 
avaricious  than  vindictive.  He  determined  to  involve 
the  whole  order  in  one  undistinguished  ruin;  and  on  no- 
better  information  than  that  of  two  knights,  condemned 
by  their  superiors  to  perpetual  imprisonment  for  their 
vices,  he  ordered  all  the  Templars  in  France  to  be 
committed  to  prison,  on  one  day,  and  imputed  to  them 
such  enormous  and  absurd  crimes,  as  are  sufficient  of 
themselves  to  destroy  all  the  credit  of  the  accusation. 
They  were  universally  charged  with  murder,  robbery, 
and  the  vices  most  shocking  to  nature;  and  it  was  pre- 
tended that  every  one  whom  they  received  into  their 
order  was  obliged  to  renounce  his  Saviour,  to  spit  upon 
the  cross,  and  to  join  to  this  impiety  the  superstition 
of  worshipping  a  gilded  head,  which  was  secretly  kept 
in  one  of  their  houses  at  Marseilles.  The  novice  was 
also  said  to  be  initiated  by  many  infamous  rites,  v/hich 
could  serve  no  other  purpose  but  to  degrade  the  order 
in  his  eyes:  and,  as  Voltaire  very  justly  observes,  it 
shews  a  very  indifferent  knowledge  of  mankind,  to  sup- 
pose 


4SS  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  x. 

pose  there  can  be  any  societies  that  support  thtmstlvc* 
by  the  badness  of  their  morals,  or  who  make  a  law  to 
enforce  the  practice  of  impudence  and  obscenity.  Every 
society  endeavours  to  render  itself  respectable  to  those 
who  are  desirous  of  becoming  members  of  it. 

Absurd,  however,  as  these  accusations  appear,  above 
one  hundred  knights  were  put  to  the  rack,  in  order  to 
extort  from  them  a  confession  of  their  guilt.  The  more 
obstinate  perished  in  the  hands  of  their  tormentors.  Se- 
veral, in  the  violence  of  their  agonies,  acknowledged 
whatever  was  desired  of  them.  Forged  confessions 
were  imputed  to  others;   and  Philip,  as  if 

A,    D.    loll.      ....,,  ,  .  ,      . 

their  guilt  haa  now  been  certam,  proceeded 
to  a  confiscation  of  all  their  treasures.  But  no  sooner 
were  these  unhappy  men  relieved  from  their  lO'-tures, 
than  they  disavowed  their  forced  confessions;  exclaimed 
against  the  forgeries;  justified  the  innocence  of  their 
order,  and  appealed  to  the  many  gallant  actions  per- 
formed by  them,  as  a  fall  apology  lor  their  conduct. 

Enraged  at  this  disappointment,  and  thinking  him- 
self bound  in  honour  to  proceed  to  extremities,  Philip 
ordered  fifty-four  Templars,  whom  he  branded  as  re- 
lapsed heretics,  to  perish  by  the  punishment  of  fire  in 
his  capital.  Great  numbers  expired,  after  a  like  manner, 
in  different  parts  of  ihc  kingdom:  and  when  the  t\  rant 
found  that  the  persever;mce  of  those  unhappy  victims, 
in  justif}'ing  to  the  last  their  innocence,  had  made  deep 
impression  on  the  minds  of  the  peopU',  he  endeavoured 
to  overcome  the  constancy  of  the  i  cmplars  by  new  in- 
humanities.     John  de   Molav,  the  gr.iod-master  of  the 

order,    and  anorher  Q-reat  oilicer,  brother  to 
ii.  D.  1312.  .  . 

the  sovereign  of  Dauphiny,  were  conducted 

to  a  scaffold,  erected  before  the  church  oi  Notre  Dame, 

at  Paris.     A  full  pardon  was  offered  them  on  one  hand, 

a  fire  destined  for  their  execution  was  shewn  them  on 

the  other.      But  these  gallant  noblemen  persisted  in  the 

protestatiott 


LIT.  XXXIX.]     MODERN  EUROPE.  439 

protestation  of  their  own  innocence  and  that  of  their 
order;  and  as  the  reward  of  their  fortitude,  they  were 
instantly  hurried  into  the  flames  by  the  public  execu- 
tioner^. 

In  all  this  barbarous  injustice,  Clement  V.  who  then 
resided  at  Poitiers,  fully  concurred:  and,  by  the  pleni- 
tude of  his  apostolic  power,  in  a  general  council  held  at 
Vienne,  without  examining  a  single  witness,  or  making 
any  enquiry  into  the  truth  of  facts,  he  abolished  the 
whole  order.  The  Templars  all  over  Europe  were 
thrown  into  prison;  their  conduct  underwent  a  strict 
scrutiny,  and  the  power  of  their  enemies  still  pursued 
and  oppressed  them.  But  no  where,  except  in  France, 
were  the  smallest  traces  of  their  guilt  pretended  to  be 
found.  Some  countries  sent  ample  testimony  of  their 
piety  and  morals:  but  as  the  order  was  now  annihilated, 
their  lands  in  France,  Italy,  England,  and  Germany, 
were  given  to  the  Knights  Hospitallers.  In  Spain, 
they  were  given  to  the  knights  Calatrava,  an  order 
established  to  combat  the  Moors'^. 

Philip,  soon  after  the  suppression  of  this  order,  re- 
vived his  quarrel  with  the  count  of  Flanders,  whose 
dominions  he  again  imsuccessfuUy  attempted  to  unite  to 
the  crown  of  France.  The  failure  of  that  pmjtct,  to- 
gether wiih  some  domestic  mislortunes,  threw  him  into 
a  languishing  consumption,  which  carried 
him  off  in  the  thirtieth  year  ol  his  reign, 
and  the  forty-seventh  of  his  age.  He  was  certainh-  a 
prince  of  great  talents;  and  notwithstanding  his  vices, 
France  ought  to  reverence  his  memory.  By  fixuig 
the  parliaments,  or  supreme  courts  of  judicature,  he 
secured  the  ready  execution  of  justice  to  ail  his  sub- 
jects; and,  though  his  motive  might  not  be  the  most 
generous  for  calling  in  the  third  estate  into  the  national 
council,  he  by  that  measure  put  it  in  the  power  of  the 
French  nation  to  have  established  a  free  government. 

8.  Piireau.  Hist,  de  la  Condeninat.  de  Ttmplars.  I\ic.   Garticr.     Ui^t. 
Templar.     S-^eph.  Ealuz.     Vit.  Pontif.  Aveni-m. 

9  Id.  ibid.  Rymer,  vol.  iii,  Vertot.  Jiiit.  Chev.  Mclth.  torn.  .'■. 

Lewi.'^ 


4S#  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Lewis  X.  surnamed  Hutin,  the  son  and  successor 
of  Philip  the  Fair,  began  his  reign  with  an  act  of  injus-^ 
tice.  At  the  instigation  of  his  unele,  the  count  of  Va» 
lois,  he  caused  his  prime  minister  Marigny 
*  to  be  executed,  on  account  of  many  pre- 
tended crimes^  and  magic  among  the  rest;  but  in  reality 
on  account  of  his  supposed  riches,  which  were  confis- 
cated to  the  crown. 

But  neither  the  confiscation  of  Marigny *s  effects, 
nor  of  those  who  Avere  styled  his  accomplices,  being 
sufficient  for  the  king's  wants,  he  extorted  money  from 
the  nobility,  under  various  pretences:  he  levied  a  tenth 
upon  the  clergy:  he  sold  enfranchisements  to  the  slaves 
employed  in  cultivating  the  royal  domains;  and  when 
they  would  not  purchase  their  freedom,  he  declared 
them  free,  whether  they  would  or  not,  and  levied  the 
money  by  force'"'.  He  died,  like  his  father, 
after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  upon  Flan- 
ders. 

On  the  death  of  Lewis  X.  a  violent  dispute  arose 
in  regard  to  the  succession.  The  king  left  one  daugh- 
ter, by  his  first  wife,  Margaret  of  Burgundy,  and  his 
queen,  Clemence  of  Hungary,  pregnant.  Clemence 
was  brought  to  bed  of  a  son,  who  lived  only  eight  days. 
It  had  long  been  a  prevailing  opinion,  that  the  crown 
of  France  could  never  descend  to  a  female;  and  as  na- 
tions in  accounting  for  principles  which  they  regard  as 
fundamental,  and  as  peculiar  to  themselves,  are  fond 
of  grounding  them  on  primary  laws  rather  than  on  blind 
custom,  it  had  been  usual  to  derive  this  maxim  (though, 
according  to  the  best  antiquarians,  falsely)  from  a 
clause  in  the  Salian  Code,  the  body  of  laws  of  an  an- 
cient tribe  among  the  Franks.  In  consequence  of  this 
opinion,  and  precedents  founded  on  it,  Philip  V.  sur- 
named the  Long,  brother  to  Lewis  X.  was  proclaimed 
king;  and  as  the  duke  of  Burgundy  made  some  oppo- 
sition, and  asserted  the  right  of  his  niece,  the  states  of 

10.  Le  Gcndre.  Dupleix. 

the 


LET.  XXXIX.]    MODERN  EUROPE.  «5S 

the  kingdom,  by  a  solemn  and  deliberate  decree,  exclud- 
ed her,  and  declared  all  femaks  forever  incapable  of 
succeeding  to  the  crown  of  France".     The 

•      1  r     ^   •        ^  •  •  ^  ,    A.  D.   1317. 

Wisdom  ot  this  decree  is  too  evident  to  need 
being  pointed  out.  It  not  only  prevents  those  evils 
which  necessarily  prooceed  from  female  caprices  and 
tender  partialities,  so  apt  to  make  a  minister  from  love, 
and  degrade  him  from  whim,  but  is  attended  with  this 
peculiar  advantage,  that  a  foreigner  can  never  become 
sovereign  of  France  by  marriage;  a  circumstance  al- 
ways dangerous,  and  often  productive  of  the  most  fatal 
revolutions. 

The  reign  of  Philip  the  Long,  and  also  of  his  bro- 
ther Charles  IV.  surnamed  the  Fair,  were  both  short; 
nor  was  either  distinguished  by  any  memorable  event, 
Charles  left  only  one  daughter,  and  consequently  no 
heir  to  the  crown;  but  as  his  queen  was  pregnant, 
Philip  de  Valois,  the  next  male  heir,  was  appointed  re- 
cent, with  a  declared  richt  of  succession,  if 

.  A.  D.  1328. 

the  issue  should  prove  female.      I'he  queen 

of  France  was  delivered  of  a  daughter:  the  regency 
ended;  and  Philip  de  Valois  was  unanimously  placed 
on  the  throne  of  France. 

This  prince  was  cousin-german  to  the  deceased 
king,  and  incontestably  the  nearest  heir-male  descended 
from  a  male:  but  Edward  III.  as  we  shall  soon  have 
occasion  to  see,  took  up  the  dispute  upon  other  grounds. 
In  the  mean  time  I  must  make  you  acquainted  with 
the  more  early  part  of  the  reign  of  that  illustrious  mo- 
narch. 

11.  Mczeray.     Du  Tillet.     P.  Henault.     P.Daniel. 


LETTER 


45ft  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part.  i. 

LETTER  XL. 

ENGLAND,   SCOTLAND,    FRANCE,   AND    SPAIN,   DURING    THE 
REIGN   OF    EDWARD   III. 

X  HE  reign  of  Edward  IIL  my  dear  Philip,  opens 
a  wide  field  of  observation,  and  involves  whatever  is 
great  or  interesting  in  the  history  of  Europe 
during  that  period.  But  before  we  enter 
on  the  foreign  transactions  of  this  prince,  I  must  inform 
you  of  the  domestic;  and  for  this  purpose,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  recapitulate  a  little. 

You  have  already  been  witness  to  the  miserable 
death  of  the  second  Edward,  by  the  inhuman  emissaries 
of  Roger  Mortimer  the  queen's  gallant,  who  was  become 
the  object  of  public  odium.  The  hatred  of  the  nation 
daily  encreased  both  against  him  and  queen  Isabella, 
Conscious  of  this,  they  subjected  to  their  vengeance 
whomsoever  they  feared,  in  oider  to  secure  their  usurp- 
ed power.  The  earl  of  Kent,  the  young  king's  uncle,  was 
iniquitously  condemned  and  executed;  the  earl  of  Lan- 
caster, Kent's  brother,  was  thrown  into  prison;  and 
many  of  the  prelates  and  nobility  were  prosecuted  under 
different  pretences'. 

These  abuses  could  not  long  escape  the  observation 
of  a  prince  of  so  much  discernment  as  young  Edward, 
nor  fail  to  rouse  his  active  spirit  against  the  murderer 
of  his  father,  and  the  dishonourer  of  his  mother.  But 
he  was  besieged  in  such  a  manner  by  the  creatures  of 
Mortimer,  that  it  became  necessary  to  conduct  the  pro- 
ject of  bringing  that  felon  to  justice  with  as  much  secre- 
cy and  caution  as  if  he  had  been  forming  a  conspiracy 

acrainst  his  sovereign.  He  communicated 
A.  D.  1 330.  . 

his  intentions,  however,  to  some  of  the  no- 
bility, who  readily  entered  into  his  views;  and  they 
surprised  the  usurper  in  the  castle  of  Nottingham,  and 

1.  W.  Hemming,  T.  Walsingham. 

dragged 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  ASf 

dragged  him  from  an  apartment  adjoining  to  the  queen's, 
%vh'ile  she,  in  the  most  pathetic  manner,  implored  her 
son  to  spare  the  gentle  Mortimer! — A  parliament  was 
immedediately  summoned  for  his  condemnation  ;  and  he 
was  sentenced  to  die,  from  the  supposed  notoriety  of  his 
crimes,  without  any  form  of  trial.  He  perished  b)^  the 
hands  of  the  hangman,  at  the  Elmes,  near  London  :  and 
the  queen  was  confined,  during  life,  to  her  liouse  at 
Risings;  where  she  languished  out  twenty-five  years  of 
sorrow  rather  than  of  penitence^ 

Edward  having  now  taken  the  reins  of  government 
into  his  own  hands,  applied  himself  with  industry  and 
judgment,  to  redress  all  those  grievances  which  had 
either  proceeded    from  want  of  authority  in  ^■-^.^ 

the  crown,  or  the  late  abuse  of  it.  He  issued 
writs  to  the  judges,  enjoining  them  to  administ-er  justice, 
without  paying  any  regard  to  the  arbitrary  orders  of  the 
great:  and  as  thieves,  robbers,  murderers,  and  criminals 
of  all  kinds,  had  multiplied  to  an  enormous  degree  du- 
ring the  public  convulsions,  and  were  openly  protected 
by  the  powerful  barons,  who  made  use  of  them  against 
their  enemies,  the  king  set  himself  seriously  to  remedy 
the  evil,  after  exacting  from  the  peers  a  solemn  promise 
in  parliament,  that  they  would  break  off  all  connexion, 
with  such  malefactors^  The  ministers  of  justice  ani- 
mated by  his  example,  employed  the  utmost  diligence 
in  discovering,  pursuing,  and  punishing  criminals:  and 
the  disorder  was  by  degrees  corrected. 

In  proportion  as  the  government  acquired  authority 
at  home,  it  became  formidable  to  the  neighbouring 
nations;  and  the  ambitious  spirit  of  Edward  sought,  and 
soon  found  an  occasion  of  exerting  itself.  The  wise  and 
valiant  Robert  Bruce,  king  of  Scotland,  who  had  recover- 
ed by  arms  the  independency  of  his  country,  and  fixed  it 
by  treaty,  was  now  dead,  and  had  left  David,  his  son,  a 

2.  Knyghton.     Walsingham.  3.  Cotton's  Abridgment. 

VOL.  I.  3  R  minor, 


458  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paut  u 

minor,  under  the  guardianship  of  Randolph  earl  of  Mur- 
ray, the  companion  of  his  victories.  About  this  time 
Edward  Baliol  son  of  John,  formerly  crowned  king  of 
Scotland,  was  discovered  in  a  French  prison  by  lord 
Beaumont,  an  English  baron,  who,  in  the  right  of  his 
wife,  claimed  the  earldom  of  Buchan  in  Scotland;  and 
deeming  Baliol  a  proper  instrument  for  his  purpose,  pro- 
cured him  his  liberty,  and  induced  him  to  revive  his 
claim  to  the  Scottish  crown. 

Many  other  English  noblemen,  who  had  obtained 
estates  during  the  subjection  of  Scotland,  were  in  the 
same  situation  with  Beaumont.  They  also  saw  the  utility 
of  Baliol,  and  began  to  think  of  recovering  their  posses- 
sions by  arms  :  and  they  applied  to  Edward  for  his  con- 
currence and  assistance.  Edward  was  ashamed  to  avow 
their  enterprize.  He  was  afraid  that  violence  and  injus- 
tice would  every  where  be  imputed  to  him,  if  he  attacked 
with  superior  force  a  minor  king,  and  a  brother-in-law, 
whose  independent  title  had  been  so  lately  acknowledged 
by  solemn  treaty  :  but  he  secretly  encouraged  Baliol  in 
his  claim,  connived  at  his  assembling  forces  in  the  north, 
and  crave  countenance  to  the  nobles  who  were 
*  disposed  to  join  him.  A  force  of  near  three 
thousand  men  was  assembled,  with  which  Ealiol  and  his 
adherents  landed  on  the  coast  of  Fife. 

Scotland  Avas  now  in  a  very  different  situation  from 
that  in  which  it  had  appeared  under  the  victorious  Robert. 
Besides  the  loss  of  that  great  monarch,  whose  genius  and 
authority  preserved  entire  the  whole  political  fabric,  and 
maintained  union  among  the  unruly  barons,  lord  Douglas, 
impatient  of  rest,  had  gone  over  to  Spain  in  a  crusade 
against  the  Moors,  and  there  perished  in  battle.  The  earl 
of  Murray,  long  declining  through  years  and  infirmities, 
had  lately  died,  and  been  succeeded  in  the  regency  by 
Donald  earl  of  Mar,  a  man  much  inferior  in  talents  ;  so 
that  the  military  spirit  of  the  Scots,  though  still  unbroken, 
was  left  without  a  guide.  Baliol  had  valour  and  activity, 
and  his  followers  being  firmly  united  by  their  common 

object, 


LIT.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPJ:.  459 

object,  drove  back  the  Scots  v/ho  opposed  his  landing. 
He  marched  into  the  heart  of  the  country;  and  with  his 
small  party  defeated  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men, 
under  the  earl  of  Mar,  of  wh-'m  twelve  thousand  ar» 
said  to  have  be^n  slain. 

Baliol,  soon  after  this  victory,  made  himself  master 
of  Perth,  and  was  crowned  at  Scone;  while  young  Bruce, 
his  competitor,  was  sent  over  to  France  with  his  betroth- 
ed wife  Jane,  sister  to  king  Edward.  Scotland  was  sub- 
dued by  a  handful  of  men;  but  Baliol  lost  the  kingdom 
by  a  revolutionas  sudden  as  that  by  which  he  had  acquired 
it.  His  Imprudence,  or  his  necessities,  making  him  dis- 
miss part  of  his  English  followers,  he  was  unexpectedly 
attacked  near  Annan  by  Sir  Archibald  Douglas,  and 
other  chieftains  of  Bruce's  party.  He  was  routed :  his 
brother  John  Baliol  was  slain;  and  he  himself  was  chased 
into  England  in  a  miserable  plighf^. 

In  this  extremity,  Baliol  had  again  recourse  to  the 
English  monarch,  without  whose  assistance  he  was  now 
become  sensible  he  could  neither  recover  nor  keep  pos- 
session of  his  throne.     He  offered  to  acknow- 

.     .  ,     A.D.  1333. 

ledge    Edward's    superiority  ;    to   renew   the 

homage  for  Scotland ;  and  to  espouse  the  princess  Jane, 
if  the  pope's  consent  could  be  obtained  for  dissolving 
her  former  marriage,  which  was  not  yet  consummated. 
Ambitious  of  retrieving  that  important  superiority  re- 
linquished by  Mortimer  during  his  minority,  Edward 
willingly  accepted  the  offer,  and  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  powerful  army,  in  order  to  reinstate  Baliol  in  his 
throne.  The  Scots  met  him  with  an  army  more  numerous, 
but  less  united,  and  worse  supplied  with  arms  and 
provisions.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Halidown-hill,  a 
little  north  of  Berwick  ;  where  about  thirty  thousand  of 
the  Scots  fell,  and  all  the  chief  nobility  were  either  kill- 
ed or  taken  prisoners^ 

4.  Hemming.  Knyghton.  Walsingham.  Buchanan.  Fordun.     5.  Ibid- 

After 


460  THE   HISTORY  OF  [fart  u 

After  this  fatal  blo\y,  the  Scottish  nobles  had  no  re- 
source but  in  submission.  Baliol  was  acknowledged  king 
by  a  parliament  assembled  at  Edinburgh;  the  superiority 
of  England  was  again  recognized:  many  ol  the  Scottish 
nobility  swore  fealty  to  Edward;  who,  leaving  a  cnnsi- 
derable  body  of  troops  with  Baliol  to  complete  the  con- 
quest  of  the  kingdom,  returned  to  England 
with  the  remainder  of  liis  army.  But  the 
English  forces  were  no  sooner  withdrawn  than  the  Scots 
revolted  against  Baliol,  and  returned  to  their  former  al- 
legiance under  Bruce.  Edward  was  again  obliged  to 
assemble  an  armv,  and  to  march  into  Scotland.  The 
Scots,  taught  by  experience,  withdrew  into 
their  hills  and  fastnesses.  He  destroyed  the 
houses  an-d  ravaged  the  estates  of  those  whom  he  called 
rebels.  But  this  severity  only  confirmed  them  more  in 
their  obstinate  antipathy  to  England  and  to  Baliol  ;  and 
being  now  rendered  desperate,  they  soon  re-conquered 
their  country  from  the  English.  Edward 
made  anew  his  appearance  in  Scotland,  and 
with  like  success.  He  found  every  thing  hostile  in  the 
kingdom,  except  the  spot  on  which  he  was  encamped  ; 
and  although  he  marched  uncontrolled  over  the  low 
countries^  the  nation  itself  was  farther  than  ever  from 
being  broken  or  subdued.  Besides  being  supported  by 
their  pride  or  anger,  passions  difficult  to  tame,  the  Scots 
were  encouraged  amid  all  their  calamities,  with  daily 
promises  of  relief  from  France  ;  and  as  a  war  was  nov/ 
likely  to  break  out  between  that  kingdom  and  England, 
they  had  reason  to  expect  a  division  of  the  force  which 
had  so  long  overwhelmed  and  oppressed  them*^. 

These  transactions  naturally  bring  us  back  to  Edward's 
claim  to  the  crown  of  France  ;  on  which  depended  the 
most  memorable  events  not  only  of  this  long  and  active 
reign,  but   of  the   whole   English  and   French  history, 

6.  Rymer,  vol.  iv.  Leland's  CoZ/fCf.  vol.  ii.  W.  Hemming.  T.  Walsing- 
ham* 

during 


lET.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  461 

during  more  than  a  centnry.  A  notion  weaker  or  worse 
grounded  than  that  claim  cannot  well  be  imagined.  He 
admitted  the  general  principle.,  that  females  could  not  in- 
herit the  crown  of  Erance.  But,  in  so  doing,  he  only  set 
aside  his  mother's  right,  to  establish  his  own;  for  although 
he  acknowledged  females  incapable  of  inheriting,  he 
asserted  that  males  descending  from  females  were  liable 
to  no  such  objection,  but  might  claim  by  right  of  pro- 
pinquity. This  plea,  hov/ever,  was  not  only  more  fa- 
vourable to  Charles  king  of  Navarre,  descended  from  a 
daughter  of  Lewis  X.  but  contrary  to  the  established  rules 
of  succession  in  every  European  country,  Edward's  claim 
was  therefore  disregarded,  and  the  title  of  Philip  of  Va- 
lois  universally  recognized  and  acknowledged^ 

But  although  the  youthful  and  ambitious  mind  of 
Edward  had  rashly  entertained  this  false  idea,  he  did  not 
carry  his  pretensions  so  far  as  to  engage  in  hostilities 
with  so  pov/erful  a  monarch  as  Philip  VI.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  went  over  to  Amiens,  and  did  homage  for 
Guienne^.  By  that  compliance  he  indirectly  acknowledg- 
ed Philip's  title  to  the  crown  of  France.  His  own  claim 
indeed  was  so  unreasonable,  and  so  thoroughly  disavow- 
ed by  the  whole  French  nation,  that  to  insist  on  it  was 
no  better  than  to  pretend  to  the  violent  conquest  of  the 
kingdom;  and  it  would  probably  never  have  been  farther 
thought  of,  had  it  not  been  for  some  incidents  Nvhich  after- 
wards excited  an  animosity  between  the  tv/o  monarchs. 

Robert  of  Artois,  a  prince  of  great  talents  and  credit, 
who  had  married  Philip's  sister,  had  fallen  into  disgrace 
at  the  court  of  France.  Plis  brotlier-in-law  not  only 
abandoned    him,    but    prosecuted    him    with  ^or,>^ 

violence.     He   came   over  to   England,  and 
was  favourably  received  by  Edward.  Now  resigning  him- 
self to  all  the  movements  of  rage  and  revenge,   Robert 
endeavoured  to  revive  in  the  mind  of  the  English  mo- 


7.  Froissard,  torn.  j.     D.  Specileg,  torn.  iii.        8.  Ryraer,  vol.  iv. 

narch 


462  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paut  i. 

narch  his  supposed  title  to  the  crown  of  France ;  and 
even  flattered  him,  that  it  was  not  impossible  for  a  prince 
of  his  valour  and  abilities  to  render  this  claim  effectual, 
*'  I  made  Philip  de  Valois  king  of  France,"  added  he, 
*'  and  with  your  assistance,  I  will  depose  him  for  his  in- 
"  gratitude^." 

Edward  was  the  more  disposed  to  listen  to  such 
suggestions,  as  he  had  reason  to  complain  of  Philip's 
conduct  with  regard  to  Guienne,  and  because  that  mo- 
narch had  both  given  protection  to  the  exiled  David 
Bruce,  and  encouraged  the  Scots  in  their  struggles 
for  independency.  Resentment  gradually  filled  the 
breasts  of  both  monarchs,  and  made  them  incapable  of 
hearkening  to  any  terms  of  accommodation.  Philip 
thought  he  should  be  wanting  to  the  first  principles  of 
policy,  if  he  abandoned  Scotland;  and  Edward  pretend- 
ed  that  he  must  renounce  all  claim  to  generosity,  if  he 
withdrew  his  protection  from  Robert  of  Artois.  Alliances 
were  formed  on  both  sides,  and  great  preparations  were 
made  for  war. 

On  the  side  of  England  was  the  count  of  Hainault, 
the  king's  father-in-law,  the  duke  of  Brabant,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Cologne,  the  duke  of  Guelder,  the  marquis 
of  Juliers,  and  the  count  of  Namur.  These  princes  could 
supply,  either  from  their  own  states,  or  from  the  border- 
ing countries,  great  numbers  of  warlike  troops:  and 
nothing  was  wanting  to  make  Edward's  alliance  on  that 
quarter  truly  formidable  but  the  accession  of  Flanders, 
which  he  obtained  by  means  somewhat  extraordinary. 

The  Flemings,  the  first  people  in  the  north  of  Europe 
that  successfully  cultivated  arts  and  manufactures,  begaa 
now  to  emerge  from  that  state  of  vassalage,  or  rather 
slavery,  into  which  the  common  people  had  been  univer- 
sally thrown  by  the  abuses  of  the  feudal  polity;  and  the 
lower  class  of  men  among  them  had  risen  to  a  degree  of 

9.  Froissard,  liv.  i.    Mtm.  de  Robert  d' Artois. 

riches 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  463 

riches  unknown  elsewhere  to  those  of  their  station  in  that 
comparatively  barbarous  age.  It  was  impossible  for  such 
men  not  to  resent  any  act  of  tyranny;  and  acts  of  tyranny 
were  likely  to  be  practised  by  a  sovereign  and  nobility 
accustomed  to  domineer.  Ihey  had  risen  in  tumults j 
they  had  insulted  the  nobles,  and  driven  their  earl  into 
France '°. 

In  every  such  revolution  there  is  always  some  leader 
or  demagogue  to  whose  guidance  the  people  blindly  de- 
liver themselves.  And  on  his  character  entirely  depends 
the  happines  or  misery  of  those  who  have  put  themselves 
under  his  care  ;  for  every  such  man  has  it  in  his  power 
to  be  a  despot:  so  narrow  are  the  boundaries  between 
liberty  and  slavery: — The  present  leader  of  the  Flemings 
was  James  d'Arteville,  a  brewer  of  Ghent,  who  governed 
them  with  a  more  absolute  sway  than  had  ever  been  as- 
sumed by  any  of  their  lawful  sovereigns.  He  placed  and 
displaced  the  magistrates  at  pleasure.  He  was  constantly 
attended  by  a  guard:  who,  on  the  least  signal  from  him, 
instantly  assassinated  any  man  that  happened  to  fall  under 
his  displeasure.  All  the  cities  of  Flanders  were  full  of 
his  spies;  and  it  was  immediate  death  to  give  him  the 
smallest  umbrage.  This  was  the  man  to  whom  Edward 
addressed  himself  for  bringing  over  the  Flemings  to  his 
interests". 

Proud  of  advances  from  so  great  a  prince,  and  sen- 
sible that  the  Flemings  were  naturally  inclined  to  main- 
tain connections  with  the  English,  on  account 

.  A.  D.  1338 

of  the  advantages  of  trade,  their  demagogue 

embraced  the  cause  of  Edward,  and  invited  him  over  to 
the  Low  Countries.  Edward  repaired  to  Flanders,  at- 
tended by  several  of  his  nobility,  and  a  body  of  English 
forces;  but  before  the  Flemings,  who  were  vassals  of 
France,  would  take  up  arms  against  their  liege  lord, 
Edward  was  obliged  to  assume  the  title  of  king  of 
France,  and  to  challenge  their  assistance  for  dethroning 

10.  Froissard.  liv.  i.  11.  Id,  ibid. 

-4-     ' "  >    r-  .  Philip 


464  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Philip  de  Valois,  the  usurper  of  his  kingdom^-.  This  step, 
which  was  taken  by  the  advice  of  d'Arteville,  as  he  knew 
it  would  produce  an  irreconcileablc  breach  between  the 
two  monarchs  (a  further  motive  for  joining  the  cause  of 
Edward,)  gave  rise  to  that  animosity  which  the  English 
and  French  nations,  but  more  especially  the  former,  have 
ever  since  borne  ag;unst  each  other,  an  animosity  Vv'hich 
had,  for  some  centuries,  so  visible  an  influence  on  all 
their  transactions,  and  which  still  continues  to  inflame 
the  heart  of  many  an  honest  Englishman. 

Let  philosophers  blame  this  prejudice  an  inconsistent 
with  the  liberality  of  the  human  mind  ;  let  moralists 
mourn  its  severity,  and  Aveak  politicians  lament  its  de- 
structive rage — you,  my  dear  Philip,  as  a  lover  of  your 
country,  will  ever,  I  hope,  revere  a  passion  that  has  so 
often  given  victory  to  the  arms  of  England,  and  humbled 
her  haughty  rival ;  which  has  preserved  and  continues  to 
preserve,  the  independency  of  Great  Britain  ! 

The  French  monarch  made  great  preparations  against 
the  attack  from  the  English  ;  and  his  foreign  alliances 
were  both  more  natural  and  powerful  than  those  which 
were  formed  by  his  antagonist.  The  king  of  Navarre, 
the  duke  of  Britanny,  the  count  of  Bar,  were  entirely  in 
the  interests  of  Philip;  and  on  the  side  of  Germany,  the 
king  of  Bohemia,  the  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  dukes  of 
Lorrain  and  Austria,  the  bishop  of  Liege,  the  counts  of 

^  ^   ^    Deuxponts,    Vaudemont,    and    Geneva.     A 
A.  D.  1339.      .       '  '  ,  '     .  ,      £  ,  , 

mighty  army  was  brought  into  the  held   on 

both  sides.  ConferenceR  and  mutual  defiances,  however, 
Were  all  that  the  first  campaign  produced,  and  Edward, 
distressed  for  want  of  money,  was  obliged  to  disband  his 
army,  and  return  to  En  gland*  3. 

But  this  illustrious  prince  had  too  much  spirit  to  be  dis- 
couraged by  the  first  difficulties  of  an  undertaking.  He  was 

12.  W.  Hemming.     T.  Walsmgham.    Rymer,  vol.v. 

13    Froissaru,  ui)i  siili.     W.  Hemming.     T.  Waltingham. 

anxious 


LiiT.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  ^S 

anxious  to  retrieve  his  honour  by  more  successful   and 
more    gallant   enterprizes;   and  next  season  iqio 

proved  somewhat  more  fortunate.  The  Eng- 
lish, under  the  command  of  Edward,  gained  an  im- 
portant advantage  over  the  French  by  sea.  Two 
hundred  and  thirty  French  ships  were  taken,  thirty 
thousand  Frenchmen  were  killed,  with  two  of  their  ad- 
mirals. The  lustre  of  this  victory  increased  the  king's 
reputation  among  his  allies,  who  assembled  their  forces 
with  expedition,  and  joined  the  English  army;  and 
Edward  marched  to  the  frontiers  of  France  at  the 
head  of  above  one  hundred  thousand  men.  The  French 
monarch  had  collected  an  army  still  more  numerous:  yet 
he  continued  to  adhere  to  the  prudent  resolution  he  had 
formed,  of  putting  nothing  to  hazard,  hoping  by  that 
means  to  weary  out  the  enemy.  This  conduct  had,  in 
some  measure,  the  desired  effect.  Edward,  fatigued 
with  fruitless  sieges,  and  irritated  at  the  disagreeable 
prospect  that  lay  before  him,  challenged  Philip  to  de- 
cide their  claims  to  the  crown  of  France  by  single  com- 
bat ;  by  an  action  of  one  hundred  against  one  hundred,  or 
by  a  general  engagement.  Philip  replied  with  his  usual 
coolness,  that  it  did  not  become  a  vassal  to  challenge 
his  liege  lord ;  and  Edward  found  it  necessary  to  con- 
clude a  truce  for  one  year'^. 

This  truce  would  in  all  likelihood  have  been  convert- 
ed into  a  solid  peace,  and  Edward  would  have  drop- 
ped his  claim,  had  not  an  unexpected  circumstance 
opened  to  him  more  promising  views,  and  given  his 
enterprizing  genius  a  full  opportunity  to  display  itself. 
The  count  de  Mountfort,  the  heir  male  of  Brltanny, 
had  seized  that  duchy  in  opposition  to  Charles  of  Blois, 
the  French  king's  nephew,  who  had  married 
the  daughter  of  the  late  duke.  Sensible  that 
he  could  expect  no  favour  from  Philip,  Mountfort  made 
a  voyage  to  England,  on  pretence  of  soliciting  his  claim 

14.  Ibid. 
TOL..  I.  2  c  to 


466  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  5. 

to  the  earldom  of  Richmond,  v/hicli  had  devolved  tat 
him  by  his  brother's  deatli;  and  then  oflering  to  do  ho- 
mage to  Edward,  as  king  of  France,  for  the  duchy  of 
Britanny,  he  proposed  a  strict  alliance  for  the  support 
of  each  other's  pretensions. 

Little  negociatioH  was  necessary  to  conclude  a  treaty 
between  tv*o  princes  connected  by  their  immediate  in- 
terests. But  the  captivity  of  the  count  de  Mountfort^, 
which  happened  soon  after,  seemed  to  put  an  end  to  all 
the  advantages  naturally  to  be  expected  from  such  air 
alliance.  The  affairs  of  Britanny,  however,  were  ub- 
expectedly  retrieved  by  Jane  of  Inlanders,  countess  of 
Mountfort,  the  most  extraordinary  woman  of  her  time. 
Roused  by  th«  captivity  of  her  husband  from  those  do- 
mestic cares  to  which  she  had  hitherto  confined  herself, 
she  boldly  undertook  to  support  the   fallen  fortunes  of 

^  ^   ^    her  family.      She  went  from  place  to  place- 

A.  D".  1342.  .  .  I  r         r 

encouraging  the   garrisons,   providing  them; 

with  every  thing  necessary  for  subsistence,  and  con- 
certing the  proper  plans  of  defence;,  and  having  put  the 
whole  province  in  a  good  posture,  she  shut  herself  up 
in  Hennebone,  where  she  waited  v/ith  impatience  the 
arrival  of  those  succours  which  Edward  had  promised 
her. 

Charles  of  Blois,  anxious  to  make  himself  master  of 
this  important  fortress,  sat  down  before  the  place  with 
a  great  army,  and  conducted  the  attack  with  indefatiga- 
ble industry.  The  defence  was  no  less  vigorous.  The 
besiegers  were  repulsed  in  every  assault.  Frequent 
sallies  were  made  by  the  garrison  ;^  and  the  countess 
herself  being  the  most  forward  on  all  occasions,  every 
one  was  asliamed  not  to  exert  himself  to  the  utmost. 
The  reiterated  r.ttacks  of  the  besiegers,  however,  had 
at  length  made  several  breaches  in  the  walls;  and  it  was 
apprehended  that  a  general  assault,  which  was  dreaded 
every  hour,  might  bear  down  the  garrison.  It  became 
necessary  to  treat  of  a  capitulation:  and  the  bishop  of  La- 

on 


tET,  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  467 

©n  was  already  engaged  in  a  conferciice  on  that  subject 
with  Charles  of  iiiois,  when  the  countess,  who  had 
mounted  a  high  tower,  and  was  anxiously  looking  toward 
the  sea  for  relief,  descried  some  sails  at  a  distance. 
*'  Behold  the  succours!"  exclaimed  she; — "  the  Eng- 
*'  lish  succours! — No  capitulation."  They  consisted  of 
six  thousand  aaxhers,  and  some  cavalry,  under  the  com- 
mand of  sir  Walter  Manny,  one  of  the  bravest  captains 
©f  England:  and  having  entered  the  harbour,  and  in- 
spired fresh  courage  into  the  garrison,  immediately  sal- 
lied forth,  beat  the  besiegers  from  Uieir  posts,  and 
obliged  them  to  decamp'^. 

Notwithstanding  this  success,  the  troops  under  sir 
Walter  Manny  were  found  insufficient  for  the  support 
of  the  countess  of  Mountfort,  who  was  still  ready  to  be 
overpowered  by  numbers-  Edward  therefore  sent  over 
a  reinforcement  under  Robert  of  Artois,  and  afterwards 

went  to  her  assistance  in  person,      Robert  ^  .  .  ^ 

A.  D.   1343, 
was  killed  in  the  defence  of  Vannes:   and 

Edward  concluded  a  truce  of  three  years,  on  honourable 
terms,  for  himself  and  the  countess. 

This  truce,  however,  was  of  much  shorter  duration 
than  the  term  specified  in  the  articles,  and  each  monarch 
endeavoured  to  throw  on  the  other  the  blame  of  its  infrac- 
tion.   The  English  parliament  entered  warmly 
into  the  quarrel,  advised  the   king  not  to  be     '    ° 
amused  by  a  fraudulent  truce,  and  granted  bim  supplies 
for  the  renewal  of  hostilities.      The  earl  of  Dei^by  was 
«ent  over  for  the  protection  of  Gtiienne,  where  he  behaved 
with  great  gallantry^  and  Edward  invaded 
Normandy  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 

men.      He  took  several  towns,  and  ravag-  ^    ,^ 

■       .  ,    ,  .  \       ,.        ^    A.   D.  1346. 

cd  the    whole  provmce,  carrymg  his    ex- 
cursions even  to  the  gates  of  Paris.     At  length  Philip 
advanced  against  him  at  the  head  of  an  hundred  thou- 
sand men,   and  Edward,  afx'aid  of  being  surrounded   in 
the  enemy ""s  country,  retreated  towards  Flanders"^. 

IS.  Froissard,  liv.  i.  16.  R.  de  Averburg.    Froissard,  ubi  sup. 

^  In 


468  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

In  this  retreat  happened  the  famous  passage  of  the 
Somnie,  which  was  followed  by  the  still  more  celebrated 
battle  of  Cressy.  When  Edward  approached  the  Somme, 
he  found  all  the  bridges  either  broken  down  or  strongly 
guarded.  An  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  vmder  the 
command  of  Godamar  de  Faye  was  stationed  on  the  op- 
posite bank  ;  and  Philip  was  advancing  on  him,  at  the 
same  time,  from  behind.  In  this  extremity  he  was  in- 
formed of  a  place  that  was  fordable:  he  hastened  thither, 
but  saw  de  Faye  ready  to  obstruct  his  passage.  A  man 
of  less  resolution,  or  more  coolness,  would  have  hesitat- 
ed: Edward  deliberated  not  a  moment,  but  threw  him- 
self into  the  river  sword  in  hand,  at  the  head  of  his 
troops  ;  drove  the  enemy  from  their  station,  and  pursued 
them  to  a  distance  on  the  plain.  Philip  and  his  forces 
arrived  at  the  ford,  when  the  rear-guard  of  the  English 
army  was  passing  ;  and  the  rising  of  the  tide  only  pre- 
vented that  incensed  monarch  from  following  them.  On 
the  lapse  of  so  few  moments  depended  the  fate  of  Ed- 
ward!— and  these,  by  his  celerity,  were  turned  from  ruin 
into  victory  1  yet  if  he  had  been  unfortunate  in  his  pas- 
sage, or  if  the  French  army  had  arrived  somewhat  sooner, 
how  many  pretended  philosophers  would  have  told  us  that 
he  was  an  inconsiderate  prince,  and  the  attempt  would 
have  been  branded  as  absurd! — So  much,  my  dear  Phi- 
lip, does  the  reputation  of  events  depend  on  success,  and 
the  characters  of  men  on  the  situations  in  which  they  arc 
engaged. 

Edward  by  his  fortunate  passage  gained  some 
ground  of  the  enemy,  a3  Philip  was  obliged  to  take  his 
route  by  the  bridge  of  Abbeville;  but  he  still  saw  the 
danger  of  precipitating  his  march  over  the  plains  of  Pi- 
cardy,  and  of  exposing  his  rear  to  the  insults  of  the 
numerous  cavalry,  in  which  the  French  camp  abounded. 
He  therefore  embraced  the  prudent  resolution  of  wait- 
ing the  arrival  of  the  enemy,  and  chose  his  ground  ad- 
vantageously near  the  village  of  Cressy;  where  he 
4rew  up  his  army  in  excellent  order,  and  divided  into 

three 


LKT.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  46S 

three  lines.  The  first  line  was  commanded  by  the 
prince  of  Wales,  commonly  called  the  Black  Prince, 
from  the  colour  of  his  armour;  the  second  by  the  earls 
of  Arundel  and  Northampton;  and  the  king  himself  took 
the  direction  of  the  third,  which  was  intended  as  an 
auxiliary  force.  The  French  army,  which  now  consisted 
of  above  an  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  was  also 
formed  into  three  lines;  but  as  Philip  had  made  a  hasty 
and  confused  march  from  Abbeville,  the  troops  were  fa- 
tigued and  disordered.  The  first  line,  consisting  of  fif- 
teen thousand  Genoese  cross-bow  men,  was  commanded 
by  Anthony  Doria  and  Charles  Grimaldi:  the  second 
was  led  by  the  count  d'Alencon;  and  the  king 
in  person  was  at  the  head  of  the  third.  The 
battle  began  about  three  o'clock,  and  continued  till 
towards  evening;  when  the  whole  French  army  took  to 
flight,  and  was  followed  and  put  to  the  sword  with  great 
slaughter  till  the  darkness  of  night  put  an  end  to  the 
pursuit-  Almost  forty  thousand  of  the  French  were 
slain,  among  whom  were  many  of  the  principal  nobility, 
twelve  hundred  knights,  and  fourteen  hundred  gentle- 
men. On  his  return  to  the  camp  Edward  flew  into  the 
arms  of  the  prince  of  Wales,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  in  a  remarkable  manner.  "  My  brave  sonl" 
cried  he,  "  persevere  in  your  honourable  course. 
*'  You  are  my  son!  for  valiantly  have  you  acquitted 
*'  yourself  to-day.  You  have  shewn  yourself  worthy  of 
*'  empire'^." 

This  victory  is  partly  ascribed  to  some  pieces  of 
artillery  which  Edward  is  said  to  have  planted  in  his 
front,  and  which  gave  great  alarm  to  the  enemy'^;  but 
we  cannot  suppose  they  did  much  execution.  The  in- 
vention was  yet  in  its  infancy  ;  and  cannon  were  at  first 
so  clumsy,  and  of  such  difficult  management,  that  they 
were  rather  incvimbrances  than  those  terrible  instru- 
ments of  desolation  which  we  now  behold  them.  They 
had  never  before  been  made  use  of  on  any  memorable 
occasion  in  Europe.     This  may,  therefore,  be  regarded 

17.  Froissard,  lib.  i.  Walsingham.  Kn)  gViton.  Avcrburg.  18.  Villani,  lib.  xii. 

as 


4ro  THE  HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

as  the  sera  of  one  of  the  most  important  discoveries 
that  has  been  made  among  menj  a  discovery  which 
changed  by  degrees  the  whole  military  science,  and  of 
course  many  circumstances  in  the  political  government 
of  Europe;  which  has  brought  nations  more  on  a  level ; 
has  made  success  in  war  a  matter  of  calculation  ,  and 
though  seemingly  contrived  for  the  destruction  of 
mankind,  and  the  overthrow  of  empires  has  in  the  issue 
rendered  battles  less  bloody,  and  conquests  less  frequent, 
by  giving  greater  security  to  states,  and  interesting  the 
passions  of  men  less  in  the  struggle  for  victor)'. 

A  weak  mind  is  elated  with  the  smallest  success: 
a  great  spirit  is  little  affected  by  any  turn  of  fortune. 
Edward,  instead  of  expecting  that  the  victory  at  Cressy 
would  be  immediately  followed  by  the  total  subjection  of 
the  disputed  kingdom,  seemed  rather  to  moderate  his 
views.  He  prudently  limited  his  ambition  to  the  con- 
quest of  Calais;  by  which  he  hoped  to  secure  such  an 
easy  entrance  into  France,  as  might  afterwards  open 
the  way  to  more  considerable  advantages.  He  therefore 
marched  thither  with  his  victorious  army,  and  presented 
himself  before  the  place. 

In  the  mean  time  David  Bruce,  king  of  Scotland, 
whom  his  countrymen  had  recalled,  was  strongly  solicit- 
ed by  his  ally,  Philip  to  invade  the  northern  counties  of 
England.      He  accordingly  assembled  a  great  army,  and 

^  ^   carried  his  ravages  as  far  as  Durham.      He  was 
OCT.  17. 

there  met  by  queen  Philippa,    at  the  head  of  a 

body  of  twelve  thousand  men,  which  she  conimitted  to  the 

command  of  lord  Percy.      A  fierce  engagement  ensued; 

and  the  Scots   were    broken   and   chased    off    the    field 

with  great  slaughter.      Fifteen  thousand   of  them  were 

slain,  among  whom  were  the  chancellor  and  earl-marshal. 

The  king  himself  was  taken  prisoner,  together  with  ma^- 

ny  of  the  principal  nobility'^. 

As  soon  as  Philippa  had  secured  her  royal  prisoner, 

the  crossed  the  sea  at  Dover,  and  was  received   in  the 

10.  Avcrburg.  Knyghton,  Froissard,  ul>i  sup. 

English 


I.ET.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  4.71 

English  camp  before  Calais  with  all  the  eclat  due  to  her 
rank,  her  merit,  and  her  success.  This  was  the  age  of 
chivalry  and  gallantry.  Edward's  courtiers  excelled 
in  these  accomplishments  no  less  than  in  policy  and  war; 
and  the  extraordinary  qualities  of  the  women  of  those 
times,  the  necessary  consequence  of  respectful  admira- 
tion, form  the  best  apology' for  the  super-  ^hak 
.  .  ,  .  ,  .  ,  ,  -J  A.  D.  134/. 
stitious  devotion  which  was  then  paid  to 

the  softer  sex.  Calais  was  taken,  after  an  obstinate 
siege  of  almost  twelve  months.  The  inhabitants  were 
expelled;  and  it  v/as  peopled  anew  with  English  sub- 
jects, and  made  the  staple  of  wool,  tin,  and  lead; 
the  four  chief  commodities  of  England,  and  the  only 
ones  for  which  there  was  yet  any  demand  in  foreign 

markets.      A  truce  was   soon  afterwards  ^o^o 

,,,.,„  ,  ,     ,  A.   D.  1348. 

concluded  with  France,  through  the  me- 
diation of  the  pope's  legate,   and  Edward  returned  in 
triumph  to  England^". 

Here  a  few  observations  seem  necessary.  The  great 
success  of  Edward  in  his  foreign  wars  had  excited  a 
strong  emulation  among  the  English  nobility;  and  their 
animosity  against  France,  and  respect  to  their  prince, 
had  given  a  new  and  more  useful  turn  to  that  ambition, 
which  had  so  often  been  turned  by  those  turbulent 
barons  against  the  crown,  or  which  discharged  its  fury 
on  their  fellow-subjects.      This  prevailing  I'^^O 

spirit  was  farther  promoted  by  the  institu- 
tion of  the  military  Order  of  the  Garter,  in  emulation 
of  some  orders  of  knighthood,  of  a  like  nature,  which 
had  been  established  in  different  parts  of  Europe. — A 
story  prevails,  though  not  supported  by  ancient  autho- 
rity, that  Edward's  mistress,  commonly  supposed  to  be 
the  countess  of  Salisbury,  dropped  her  garter  at  a  court 
ball;  that  the  king  stooped,  and  took  it  up;  when  observ- 
ing some  of  his  courtiers  to  smile,  as  if  they  had  sus- 
pected another  intention,  -he  held  up  the  trophy,  and 
called  out,  Honi  soit  qui  maly  pense:  "  Evil  to  him  that 
*'  evil  thinks." — And  as  every  incident  of  gallantry  in 

20.  Id.  ibid 

those 


4n  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

those  times  was  magnified  into  a  matter  of  importance, 
he  instituted  the  Order  of  the  Garter  in  commemoration 
of  this  event,  though  not  without  political  views,  and 
^ve  these  words  as  the  motto  of  the  order.  Frivolous 
as  such  an  origin  may  seem,  it  is  perfectly  suitable  to 
the  manners  of  that  age;  and,  as  a  profound  historian 
remarks,  it  is  difficult  by  any  other  means  to  account 
for  the  seemingly  unmeaning  terms  of  the  motto,  or  the 
peculiar  badge  of  the  garter,  which  appears  to  have  no 
reference  to  any  purpose  either  of  military  use  or  orna- 
ment-'. , 

A  damp,  however,  was  suddenly  thrown  over  tho 
triumphant  festivity  of  the  English  court,  by  a  destruc- 
tive pestilence  which  about  this  time  invaded  Britain, 
after  having  desolated  the  greatest  part  of  the  earth.  It 
made  its  appearance  first  in  the  north  of  Asia;  encircled 
all  that  \t\st  continent;  visited  Africa;  made  its  progress 
from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other;  and  is  computed 
to  have  swept  away  near  a  third  of  the  inhabitants  in 
every  country  through  which  it  passed.  Above  fifty 
thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  perished  by  it  in 
London  alone.  This  grievous  calamity,  more  than  the 
pacific  disposition  of  the  princes,  served  to  prolong  the 
truce  between  England  and  France. 

During  this  truce  Philip  de  Valois  died,  without 
being  able  to  re-establish  the  affairs  of  France,  which 
his  unsuccessful  war  with  England  had  thrown  into 
much  disorder.  This  monarch  had,  during  the  first 
years  of  his  reign,  obtained  the  appellation  of  Fortunate, 
and  acquired  the  character  of  Prudent:  but  he  ill  main- 
tained either  the  one  or  the  other;  less  indeed  from  his 
own  fault,  than  because  he  was  overmatched  by  the  su- 
perior fortune  and  superior  genius  of  Edward.  But  the 
incidents  in  the  reign  of  his  son  John,  gave  the  French 
cause  to  lament  even  the  calamitous  times  of  Philip. 
John  was  distinguished  by  many  virtues,  but  particu- 
larly by  a  scrupulous  honour  and  fidelity.      He  was  not 

21.  Hume,  Ilitt,  England,  chap-  xv. 

de^cicnt 


LET  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  473 

deficient  in  personal  courage  ;  but  as  he  wanted  that 
masterly  prudence  and  foresight,  which  his  difficult  situa- 
tion required,  hia  kingdom  was  at  tlie  same  time  disturb- 
ed by  intestine  commotions,  and  oppressed  by  foreign 
wars. 

The  principal  author  of  these  calamities  was  Charles 
king  of  Navarre,  surnamed  the  Had,  and  whose  conduct 
fully  entitled  him  to  that  appellation.  He  was  descended 
from  males  of  the  blood  royal  of  France.  His  mother 
was  daughter  of  Lewis  X.  and  he  had  himself  married  a 
daughter  of  the  reigning  king;  but  all  these  ties,  which 
ought  to  have  connected  him  with  the  throne,  gave  him 
only  greater  povver  to  shake  and  overthrow  it.  He  se- 
cretly entered  into  a  correspondence  with  the  king  of 
England;  and  he  seduced,  by  his  address,  Charles  after- 
wards surnamed  the  Wise,  the  king  of  France's  eldest 
son,  and  the  first  who  bore  the  title  of  Dauphin,  by  the 
re-union  of  the  province  of  Dauphiny  to  the  crown. 
This  young  prince,  however,  made  sensible  of  the  dan- 
ger and  folly  of  such  connections,  promised  to  make 
atonement  for  the  offence  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  associates. 
In  concert  with  his  father,  he  accordingly  invited  the 
king  of  Navarre,  and  other  noblemen  of  the  party,  to  a 
feast  at  Rouen,  where  they  v/ere  betrayed  into 
the  hands  of  John.  Some  of  the  most  ob-  *  *  * 
noxious  v/ere  immediately  led  to  execution,  and  the 
king  of  Navarre  was  thrown  into  prison.  But  this 
stroke  of  severity  in  the  French  monarch,  and  of  trea- 
chery in  the  Dauphin,  was  far  from  proving  decisive  in 
restoring  the  royal  authority.  Philip  of  Navarre,  bro- 
ther to  Charles  the  Bad,  and  Geoffery  d'Harcourt,  put 
all  the  towns  and  castles  belonging  to  that  prince  in  a 
posture  of  defence;  and  they  had  immediate  recourse  to 
^England  in  this  desperate  extremity-^. 

The  truce  between  the  two  kingdoms,  which  had 
always  been  ill  observed  on  both  sides,  was  now  expir- 
ed; so  that  Edward  was  at  liberty  to  support  the  French 

J2.  Froissard,  \'\v.  1. 

YOL.  I.  ,3t  male  contents. 


47.4  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i, 

malecontents.  The  war  was  again  renewed;  and  after 
a  variety  of  fortunes,  but  chiefly  in  favour  of  the  En- 
glish, an  event  happened  which  nearly  proved  fatal  to 
the  French  monarchv. 

The  prince  of  Wales,  encouraged  by  the  success  of 

,  „   ^    the  first  campaic-n,  took  the  held  with  an  ar- 
A.D.  1356,  r        t  ,         u  1  ,       •  . 

my  or  only  twelve  thousand  men;   ami  with 

that  small  body  he  ventured  to  penetrate  into  the  heart 
of  France.  King  John,  provoked  at  the  insult  offered 
him  by  this  incursion,  collected  an  arirty  of  sixty  thou- 
sand combatants,  and  advanced  by  hasty  marches  to  in- 
tercept his  enemy.  The  prince,  not  aware  of  Johns's 
near  approach,  lost  some  days,  on  his  march,  before  the 
castle  of  Remorantin,  and  thereby  gave  the  French  mo- 
narch an  opportunity  of  overtaking  him.  The 
pursuers  came  within  sight  at  Maupertuis, 
near  Poictiers;  and  young  Edward,  sensible  that  his  re- 
treat was  now  become  impracticable,  prepared  for  bat- 
tle with  all  the  courage  of  a  hero,  and  all  the  prudence 
of  an  expfcrienced  general.  No  degree  of  prudence  or 
courage,  however,  could  have  saved  him,  had  the  king- 
of  France  knoAvn  how  to  make  use  of  his  present  ad- 
vantages. John's  superiority  in  numbers  enabled  him 
to  surround  the  English  camp,  and  by  intercepting  all 
provisions,  to  reduce  the  prince  to  the  necessity  of  sur- 
rendering at  discretion.  But  the  impatient  ardour  of 
the  French  nobility  prevented  this  idea  from  striking 
any  of  the  commanders;  so  that  they  immediately  took 
measures  for  the  assault,  with  full  assurance  of  victory. 
But  they  found  themselves  miserably  mistaken.  The 
English  adventurers  received  them  with  desperate  va- 
lour, put  their  army  to  flight,  and  took  their  king  pri- 
soner. 

The  Black  prince,  who  had  been  carried  away  in  pur- 
suit of  the  living  enemy,  finding  the  field  entirely  clear  on 
his  return,  had  ordered  a  tent  to  be  pitched,  and  was  re- 
posing himself  after  the  toils  of  battle,  when  informed  of 
the  fate  of  the  French  monarch.  John  had  long  refused 
to  surrender  himself  to  any  one,  but  his  "  cousin  the 

prince 


i.ET.  XL.]         MODERN   EUROPE,  47S 

^'  prince  of  Wales*3."  Here  commences  the  real  and 
unexampled  heroism  of  young  Edward — the  triumph 
of  humanity  and  moderation  over  insolence  and  pride, 
in  the  heart  of  a  young  warrior,  elated  by  as  extra- 
ordinary and  as  unexpected  success  as  had  ever  crowned 
the  arms  of  any  commander.  He  came  forth  to  meet 
the  captive  king  with  all  the  marks  of  regard  and  sym- 
pathy; administered  comfort  to  him  amidst  his  mis- 
fortunes; paid  him  the  tribute  of  praise  due  to  his 
valour;  and  ascribed  his  own  victory  merely  to  the 
blind  chance  of  war,  or  to  a  superior  Providence, 
which  controuls  ail  the  efforts  of  human  force  and 
prudence.  He  ordered  a  repast  to  be  prepared  m 
his  tent  for  the  royal  prisoner;  and  he  himself  serv^ed 
at  the  captive's  table,  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  his 
retinue.  All  his  father's  pretensions  to  the  crown  of 
France  were  now  buried  in  oblivion.  John,  in  cap- 
tivity, received  the  honours  of  a  king,  which  were  re- 
fused him  when  seated  on  the  throne  of  Clovis.  His 
misfortunes,  not  his  right,  were  respected:  and  the 
French  prisoners,  conquered  by  this  elevation  of  mind, 
more  than  by  the  English  arms,  burst  into  tears  of 
admiration;  which  were  only  checked  by  the  reflec- 
tion, that  such  exalted  heroism  in  an  enemy,  must 
make  him  doubly  dangerous  to  the  independency  of 
their  native  country^4. 

The  prince  of  Wales  conducted  hi«  royal  prisoner 

to   Bourdeaux;   and,   after   concluding   a 

r  111-  A.    D.    1357. 

truce  tor  two  years,  brought  him  over  to 

England.  Here  the  king  of  France,  besides  the  gene- 
rous treatment  which  he  met  with,  had  the  melancholy 
consolation  of  meeting  a  brother  in  affliction.  The 
king  of  Scotland  had  been  for  eleven  years  a  captive 
in  the  hands  of  Edward,  whose  superior  genius  and 
fortune  had  reduced  at  once  the  two  neighbouring  po- 
tentates with  whom  he  was  engaged  in  war,  to  the 
condition  of  prisoners  in  his   capitaL     Finding,  how- 

23.  R/mer,  vol.  vi.     Froissard,  liv.  i.  24.  Ibid,  ubi  -sup. 

ever. 


476  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

ev'T,  that  the  conquest  of  Scotland  was  nowise  ad- 
vanced by  the  captivity  of  its  sovereign,  Edward  con- 
sented to  restore  David  Bruce  to  his  liberty,  for  the 
ransom  of  one  hundred  thousand  marks  sterling;  and 
that  prince  delivered  the  sons  of  all  his  principal  nobi- 
lity,  as  hostages  for  the  payment'^ 

Meanwhile  the  captivity  of  the  French  monarch, 
joined  to  the  preceding  disorders  of  the  kingdom, 
had  produced  an  almost  total  dissolution  of  civil  au- 
thority, and  occasioned  the  most  horrible  and  destruc- 
tive violences  ever  experienced  in  any  age  or  country. 
The  Dauphin,  now  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  natu- 
rally assumed  the  reins  of  government,  during  his 
father's  captivity;  but  although  endowed  with  an  ex- 
cellent judgment,  even  in  such  early  years,  he  pos- 
sessed neither  experience  nor  ability  sufficient  to  reme- 
dy the  prevailing  evils.  In  order  to  obtain  supplies, 
he  assembled  the  states  of  the  kingdom. 

A.   D.    1JJ8.  .  . 

But  that  national  assembly,  instead  of 
supporting  his  administration,  were  themselves  seized 
witli  the  spirit  of  licentiousness  ;  and  laid  hold  of  the 
present  opportunity  to  demand  limitations  of  the  regal 
power,  the  punishment  of  past  malversations,  and  the 
liberty  of  the  king  of  Navarre.  Marcel,  provost  of 
the  merchants  of  Paris,  and  first  magistrate  of  that  citv, 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  unruly  populace;  and 
from  the  violence  and  temerity  of  his  character,  pushed 
them  to  commit  the  most  criminal  outrages  against  the 
royal  authority.  They  detained  the  Dauphin  in  a  kind 
of  captivity:  they  murdered  in  his  presence  Robert 
de  Clermont  and  John  de  Conflans,  mareschals  of 
France  :  they  threatened  all  the  other  ministers  with 
the  like  fate;  and  when  Charles,  who  had  been  obliged 
to  temporize  and  dissemble,  made  his  escape  from 
their  hands,  they  levied  war  against  him,  and  openly 
erected  the  standard  of  rebellion.  The  other  cities  of 
ih^  kipgdom,  in  imitation  of  the  capital,  shook  off  the 

•  55.  Bjmer,  vol.  i. 

Dauphin's 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  4,77 

Dauphin's  authority  ;  took  the  government  into  their 
own  hands,  and  spread  the  contagion  into  every  pro- 
vince. The  wild  state  of  nature  seemed  to  be  renewed  in 
the  bosom  of  society:  every  man  was  thrown  loose  and 
independent  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

The  nobles,  whose  inclinations  led  them  to  adhere  to 
the  crown,  and  were  naturally  disposed  to  check  these 
turnuUs,  had  lost  all  their  influence.  The  troops,  who 
could  no  longer  be  retained  in  discipline,  by  reason  of  the 
want  of  pa}',  throwing  off  all  regard  to  their  officers, 
sought  the  means  of  subsistence  by  pillage  and  robbery; 
and  associating  with  them  all  the  disorderly  people,  with 
whom  that  age  abounded,  infested  every  qLiarlcr  of  the 
kingdom  in  numerous  bodies.  They  desolated  the  open 
country,  burned  and  plundered  the  villages ;  and  by  cutting 
off" all  means  of  communication  or  subsistence,  reduced  to 
necessity  even  the  inhabitants  of  the  fortified  towns. 

The  peasants,  formerly  oppressed,  and  now  left  un- 
protected by  their  masters,  became  desperate  from  their 
present  misery;  and,  rising  every  where  in  arms,  carried 
to  the  last  extremity  those  disorders,  which  were  derived 
from  the  sedition  of  the  citizens  and  disbanded  soldiers. 
The  gentry,  hated  for  their  tyranny,  were  every  where 
exposed  to  the  violence  of  popular  rage ;  and,  instead  of 
meeting  with  the  respect  due  to  their  rank,  became  only 
on  that  account,  the  object  of  more  wanton  insult  to  the 
mutinous  rustics.  They  were  hunted  like  wild  beasts,  and 
put  to  the  sword  without  mercy.  Their  castles  were  con- 
sumed with  fire,  and  levelled  with  the  ground;  while  their  . 
wives  and  daughters  were  subject  to  violation,  and  then 
murdered. 

A  body  of  nine  thousand  of  these  savage  boors  broke 
into  Meaux,  where  the  wife  of  the  Dauphin,  the  dutchess 
of  Orleans,  and  above  three  hundred  other  ladies,  had 
taken  shelter.  The  most  brutal  treatment  and  fatal  con- 
sequences were  apprehended  by  this  fair  and  helpless 
company;  when  the  count  de  Foix  and  the  captal  de 
Buche,  with  the  assistance  of  only  sixty  knights,  animat- 
ed 


4rs  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

ed  with  the  true  spirit  of  chivalry,  flew  to  the  rescue  of 
the  ladies,  and  beat  off  the  brutal  and  rapacious  peasants 
with  great  slaughter^'. 

Asnidst  these  disorders  the  king  of  Navarre  made  his 
escape  from  prison,  and  presented  a  dangerous  leader  to 
the  furious  malecontents.  He  revived  his  pretensions  to 
the  crown  of  France;  but  in  all  his  operations  he  acted 
more  like  a  captain  of  banditti  tlian  one  who  aspired  to 
be  the  head  of  a  regidar  p;overninent,  and  who  v/as  en- 
gaged by  his  station  to  endeavour  tl^ie  re-establishment 
ol  order  in  tlie  community.  Ail  the  French,  therefore, 
who  wished  to  restore  peace  to  their  desolated  country, 
turned  their  eyes  towards  the  Dauphin;  who,  though  not 
remarkable  for  his  military  talents,  daily  gained  by  his 
prudence  and  vigilance,  the  ascendant  over  his  enemies. 
Marcel,  the  seditious  provost  of  Paris,  was  slain  in 
attempting  to  deliver  that  city  to  the  king  of  Navarre, 
The  capital  immediately  returned  to  its  duty;  the  most 
considerable  bodies  of  the  mutinous  peasants  were  dis- 
persed, or  put  to  the  sword;  some  bands  of  military  rob- 
bers underwent  the  same  fate,  and  France  began  once 
more  to  assume  the  appearance  of  civil  government^^ 

Edward  appeared  to  have  a  favourable  opportunity  of 

pushing   his    conquests,    during   the    confusion    in    the 

Dauphin's  affairs;  but  his  hands  were  tied  by  the  truce, 

and   the  state  of  the  English  finances  made  a  cessation 

^  ^   ^  of    arms    necessary.      The    truce,  however, 
^   D. 135   . 

no   sooner   expired  than   he   invaded  France 

anew  with  the  whole  military  force  of  England.  He  ra- 
vaged the  country  without  opposition;  pillaged  many 
towns,  and  levied  contributions  upon  others;  but  finding 
that  he  could  not  subsist  his  army  in  a  kingdom  wasted 

by  foreign  and  domestic  enemies,  he  prudently 
A.  D.  1360.  ■^  °  ... 

'concluded  the  peace  of  Bretigni,  which  seem- 
ed to  secure  essential  advantages  to  his  crown.  By  this 
peaxe,  it  was   stipulated,    that  John   should  pay    three 

26.  Frolssard,  liv.  i.  St.  Pelaye  ttir  I'AkcIoi  Cbivalrie. 

27.  Froissard,  ubi  suW. 

millions 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  47§ 

millions  of  crowns  of  gold  for  his  ransom;  that  Edwai'd 

should  forever  renounce  all  claim  to  the  crown  of  France, 

and  to  the  provinces  of  Normandy,   Maine,   Tourraine, 

and  Anjou,  possessed  by  his  ancestors;  in  exchange  for 

which  lie  should  receive  the  provinces  of  Poiiou  Xaia- 

tonge,    I'Angcnois,    Perigord,    the    Liniousin,    Quercy, 

Rovergue,    PAngoumois,    and    other    districts    in    that 

quarter,  together  widr  Calais,  Guisnes,  Montreuil,    and 

the  county  of  Ponthieu,   on  the  other  side  of  France; 

that  the  full  sovereignty  of  these  provinces,  as  well  as 

of  Guicnne,  should  be  vested  in  the  crown  of  England; 

and   that    France   should    renounce   all   title    to    feudal 

jurisdiction,   homage,  or  appeal  from  them^^. 

In  consequence  of  this  treaty,  the  king  of  France  was 

restored  to  his  liberty;  but  many  difficulties  arising  with 

rospect  to  the  execution  of  some  of  the  articles,  he  took 

the  honourable  resolution  of  coming  over  to  .„^^ 

T,      ,      ,   .  .  ,  ,-1  A-  D.  13G3. 

England  in  person  in  order  to  adjust  them. 

His  council  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him  from  this  de- 
sign, which  they  represented  as  rash  and  impolitic;  and 
insinuated,  that  he  ought  to  elude  as  far  as  possible 
the  execution  of  so  disadvantageous  a  treaty.  "  Though 
"  justice  and  good  faith,"  replied  John,  "  were  banish- 
*'  ed  from  the  rest  of  the  earth,  they  ought  still  to 
"  retain  their  habitation  in  the  breasts  of 
"  princes!"  And  he  accordingly  came  over 
to  his  former  lodgings  in  the  Savoy;  vvhe.re  he  soon  after 
sickened  and  died'^. 

John  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  of  France  by  his 
son,  Charles  V,  a  prince  educated  in  the  school  of  ad- 
versity, and  well  qualified,  by  his  prudence  and  experi- 
ence, to  repair  the  losses  which  the  kingdom  had  sustained 
from  the  errors  of  his  predecessors.  Contrary  to  the 
practice  of  all  the  great  princes  of  those  times,  who  held 
nothing  in  estimation  but  military  courage,  he  seems  to 
have  laid  it  down  as  a  maxim,  never  to  appear  at  the  head 

28.  Rvmer,  vol.  vi.  29.  Fioissard,  ub'i  sup. 

of 


480  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  his  armies.  He  was  the  first  European  monarch,  that 

shewed  the  advantage  of  policy  and  foresight  over  a  rash 

and  precipitate  valour. 

Before  Charles  could  think  of  counterbalancing  so 

great  a  power  as  England,    it  was  necessary  for  him  to 

remedy  the  many  disorders  to  which  his  own  kingdom 

was  exposed.      He  accordingly  turned  his  arms  against 

the  king  of  Navarre,  the  great  disturber  of  France  during 

that  age ;  and  he  defeated  that  prince,  and  reduced  him  to 

terms,  by  the  valour  and  conduct  of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin, 

one  of  the  most  accomplished    captains  of  those  times, 

^    ^      whom  Charles  had  the  discernment  to  chuse 
A.u.  1365.         ,      .  ^,  .       .         .  Ti      1 

as  the  instrument  or  his  victories,      rle  also 

settled  the  affairs  of  Britanny,  by  acknowledging  the  title 
of  Mountfort,  and  receiving  homage  for  his  dominions. 
But  much  was  yet  to  do. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  Bretigni,  a  multitude 
of  military  adventurers,  who  had  followed  the  prosperous 
fortunes  of  Edward,  being  dispersed  into  the  several  pro- 
vinces of  France,  and  possessed  of  strong-holds,  refused 
to  lay  down  their  arms,  or  relinquish  a  course  of  life  to 
which  they  were  now  accustomed,  and  by  which  alone 
they  could  earn  a  subsistence.  They,  therefore,  associat- 
ed themselves  with  the  banditti,  who  were  already  inured 
to  the  habits  of  rapine  and  violence ;  and  under  the  name 
of  Companies  and  Companions^  became  a  terror  to  the 
peaceable  inhabitants.  Some  English  and  Gascon  gentle- 
men of  character  were  not  ashamed  to  take  the  command 
of  these  ruffians,  whose  number  amounted  to  near  forty 
thousand,  and  who  bore  the  appearance  of  regular  armies 
rather  than  bands  of  robbers^".  As  Charles  was  not  able 
by  force  to  redress  so  enormous  a  grievance,  he  was  led 
by  necessity,  and  by  the  turn  of  his  character,  to  correct  it 
by  policy;  to  discover  some  method  of  discharging  into 
foreign  countries  this  dangerous  and  intestine  evil.  And 
an  occasion  now  offered. 

30.  Ihid. 

Alphonsa 


XET.  XL.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  -Ml 

Alphonso  XI.  king  of  Castile,  who  took  the  city 
of  Algezira  from  the  Moors,  after  a  famous  siege  of 
two  years,  had  been  succeeded,  in  1350,  by  his  son 
Peter  I.  surnamcd  the  Cruel,  a  prince  equally  perfi- 
dious, debauched,  and  bloody.  He  began  his  reign 
with  the  murder  of  his  father's  mistress,  Leonora  de 
Gusman  :  his  nobles  fell  every  day  the  victims  of  his 
severity  :  he  put  to  death  his  cousin,  and  one  of  his 
natural  brothers,  from  a  groundless  jealousy  ;  and  he 
caused  his  queen,  Blanche  de  Bourbon,  of  the  royal 
blood  of  France,  to  be  thrown  into  prison,  and  after- 
Vards  poisoned,  that  he  might  enjoy  in  quiet  the  em- 
braces of  Mary  de  Padella,  with  whom  he  was  vio- 
lently enamoured. 

Henry,  count  of  Transtamara,  the  l:ing  of  Spain's 
natural  brother,  alarmed  at  the  fate  of  his 
family,  and  dreading  his  own,  took  arms 
against  the  tyrant;  but  having  failed  in  the  attempt, 
he  fled  into  France,  where  he  found  the  minds  of  men 
inflamed  against  Peter,  oil  account  of  the  murder  of 
the  French  princess.  He  asked  permission  of  Charles 
to  enlist  the  Companies  in  his  service,  and  to  lead  them 
into  Castile  against  his  brother.  The  French  monarch, 
charmed  with  the  project,  emplo3'^ed  du  Guesclin  in 
negociating  with  the  leaders  of  these  banditti.  The 
treaty  was  soon  concluded:  and  du  Guesclin  having 
completed  his  levies,  led  the  army  first  to  Avignon, 
where  the  pope  then  resided,  and  demanded,  sword  in 
Land,  absolution  for  his  ruffian  soldiers,  who  had  been 
excommunicated,  and  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand livres  for  their  subsistence.  The  first  was  readily 
promised  him,  but  some  difficulty  being  made  with 
respect  to  the  second,  du  Guesclin  replied,  "  My 
*'  fellows,  I  believe,  may  make  shift  to  do  without 
"  your  absolution:  but  the  money  is  absolutely  neces- 
"  sary."  His  holiness  now  extorted  froni  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  city  and  its  neighbourhood  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  thousand  livres,  and  off'ered  it  to  Guesclin.  "It 
'■''  is  not  my  purpose,"  said  that  generous  warrior,  "  to 
*'  oppress  the  innocent  people.  The  pope  and  his 
"  cardinals  can  spare  me  double  the  sum  from  their 
VOL.  I.  3  u  ow« 


4t82  THE  lUSTORY  OF  [part  i. 

*'  own  pockets.  I  therefore  insist,  that  this  money  be 
"  restored  to  the  owners:  and  if  I  hear  they  are  de- 
^'  frauded  of  it,  I  will  myself  return  from  the  other  side 
*'  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  oblige  you  to  make  them  resti- 
**  tution."  The  pope  found  the  necessity  of  submit- 
ting, and  paid  from  his  own  treasury  the  sum  demand- 
ed^'. I'hus,  hallowed  by  the  blessings,  and  enriched  by 
the  spoils  of  the  church,  du  Guesclin  and  his  army 
proceeded  on  their  expedition! 

A  body  of  experienced  and  hardy  soldiers,  con- 
ducted by  so  able  a  general,  easily  prevailed  over  the 
king  of  Castile,  whose  subjects  were  ready  to  join  the 
enemy  against  their  oppressor.  Peter  fled 
from  his  dominions,  took  shelter  in  Gui- 
cnne,  and  craved  the  protection  of  the  Black  Prince, 
whom  the  king  of  England  had  invested  with  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  ceded  provinces,  under  the  title  of  the 
principality  of  Aquitaine.  The  prince  promised  his 
assistance  to  the  dethroned  monarch;  and  having  ob- 
tained his  father's  consent,  he  levied  an  army,  and  set 
out  on  his  enterprize. 

The  first  loss  which  Henry  of  Transtamara  suffered 
from  the  interposition  of  the  prince  of  Wales,  was  the 
recalling  of  the  Companies  from  his  service:  and  so 
much  reverence  did  they  pay  to  the  name  of  Edward, 
that  great  numbers  of  them  immediately  withdrew 
from  Spain,  and  enlisted  under  his  standard.  Henry, 
however,  beloved  by  his  new  subjects,  and  supported 
by  the  king  of  Arragon,  was  able  to  meet  the  enemy 
with  an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  three 
times  the  number  of  those  commanded  by  the  Black 
Prince;  yet  du  Guesclin,  and  all  his  experienced  offi- 
cers, advised  him  to  delay  a  decisive  action;  so  high 
was  their  opinion  of  the  valour  and  conduct  of  the 
English  hero  I — But  Henry,  trusting  to  his  numbers. 
Ventured  to  give  Edward  battle  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ebro,  between  Najara  and  Navarette  ;  where  the 
French  and  Spaniards  were  defeated,  with  the  loss  of 

21.  niit.  dt  Guesctia, 

above 


XE*.  Lx.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  483 

above  twenty  thousand  men^  and  du  Gaesclin  and  many 
other  officers  of  distinction  taken  prisoners.  All  Cas- 
tile submitted  to  the  victor:  Peter  was  restored  to  the 
throne ;  and  Edward  returned  to  Guienne  with  his 
usual  glory:  having  not  only  overcome  the  greatest 
general  of  his  age,  but  restrained  the  most  blood-thirsty 
tyrant  from  executing  vengeance  on  his  prisoners3-. 

But  this  gallant  warrior  had  soon  reason  to  repent 
his  connections  with  a  prince  like  Peter,  lost  to  all 
sense  of  virtue  and  honour.  That  ungrateful  monster 
refused  the  stipulated  pay  to  the  English  forces.  Ed- 
ward abandoned  him.  He  treated  his  subjects  with 
the  utmost  barbarity ;  their  animosity  was  roused' 
against  him;  and  du  Guesclin,  having  obtained  his 
ransom,  returned  to  Castile  with  the  count  of  Transta- 
mara,  and  some  forces  levied  anew  in  France.  They 
were  joined  by  the  Spanish  malecontents;  and  having 
no  longer  the  superior  genius,  and  the  superior  fortune 

of  the  Black   Prince  to  encounter,   they 

A.  D     1368 
gamed  a  complete  victory  over   Peter  in 

the  neighbourhood  of  Toledo.  The  tyrant  now  took 
refuge  in  a  castle,  where  he  was  soon  after  besieged 
by  the  victors,  and  taken  prisoner,  in  endeavouring  to 
make  his  escape.  He  was  conducted  to  his  brother 
Henry;  against  whom  he  is  said  to  have  rushed,  in  a 
transport  of  rage,  disarmed  as  he  was.  Henry  slew 
him  with  his  own  hand,  in  resentment  of  his  cruelties-; 
and,  though  a  bastard,  was  honoured  with  the  crown 
of  Castile,  which  he  transmitted  to  his  posterity33. 

In  the  mean  time  the  affairs  of  the  Black  Prince 
were  fallen  into  some  disorder.  He  had  involved  him- 
self so  much  in  debt  by  his  Spanish  expedition,  that 
he  found  it  necessary,  on  his  return,  to  impose  on  hia 
foreign  principality  a  new  tax,  which  some  of  the  no- 
bility paid  with  extreme  reluctance,  and  to  which  others 
absolutely  refused  to  submit.  They  carried  their  com- 
plaints to  the  king  of  France,  as  their  lord  paramount; 

32.  Froissard,  liv.  L  22.  Id.  ibid. 


484  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part   u 

and,  as  the  renunciations  agreed  to  in  the  treaty  of 
Bretigni,  had  never  been  made,  Charles  seized  this 
opportunity  to  renew  his  claim  of  superiority  over  the 
English  provinces34.  In  this  resolution  he  was  encou- 
raged by  the  declining  years  of  Edward  ill.  and  the 
languishing  state  of  the  prince  of  Wales's  health:  he 
therefore  sent  the  prince  a  summons  to  appear  at  his 
court  at  Paris,  and  justify  his  conduct  towards  his  vas- 
sals. The  prince  replied,  that  he  would  come  to  Paris, 
but  it  should  be  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men. 
War  was  renewed  between  Trance  and  England,  and 
with  singular  reverse  of  fortune.  The  low  state  of  the 
prince  of  Wales's  health  not  permitting  him  to  exert 
his  usual  activity,  the  French  were  victorious  in  almost 

everv  action:   and  when  he  was  obliged, 

A.   D.   1370.   ,     ,  .     .  '.       .   ^       .  .        ^     M        ^      ' 

by  his  increasing  infirmities,  to  throw  up 

the  command,  and  return  to  his  native  country,  the 
aifairs  of  the  English  went  to  total  ruin  on  the  conti- 
nent. They  were  stripped  in  a  few  years  of  all  their 
ancient  possessions  in  France,  except  Bourdeaux  and 
Bayonne;  and  of  all  their  conquests,  except  Calais'^. 
These  misfortunes  abroad  were  followed  by  the 
decay  of  the  king's  authority  at  home.  This  was 
chiefly  occasioned  by  his  extravagant  attachment  to 
Alice  Pierce,  a  young  lady  of  wit  and  beauty,  whose 
influence  over  him  had  given  such  general  disgust, 
as  to  become  the  object  of  parliamentary  remonstrance. 
The  indolence  naturally  attendant  on  years  and  infir- 
mities, had  also  made  Edward  resign  the  administra- 
tion into  the  hands  of  his  son,  the  duke  of  Lancaster, 
whose  unpopular  manners  and  proceedings  weakened  ex- 
tremely the  aflfections  of  the  English  to  their  sovereign. 
Meanwhile  the  prince  of  Wales  died;  leav- 
*  ing  behind  him  a  character  adorned  with 
every  eminent  virtue,  and  which  would  throw  lustre  on 
the  most  shining  period  of  ancient  or  modern  history. 

84.  T.  Walsitigham.    Froissard,  ubi  sup.  33.  Ibid. 

The 


LET.  XL.]  MOERN  EUROPE.  485 

The  king  survived  that  melancholy  incident  onlj^  about 

twelve  months.  He  expired  in  the  sixty-fifth  .^w- 

.  A.  D. 1377 

year  of  his  age  and  the  fifty-first  of  his  reign; 

one  of  the  longest  and  most  glorious  in  the  English  annals. 

His  latter  days  were  indeed  somewhat  obscured,  by  the 

infirmities   and  the  follies  of  old   age;   but  he  was  no 

sooner  dead,  than  the  people  of  England  were  sensible 

of  their  irreparable  loss,  and  posterity  considers  him  as 

the  greatest  and  most  accomplished  prince  of  his  time. 

The  domestic  government  of  Edward  was  even  more 
worthy  of  admiration  than  his  foreign  victories.  By  the 
prudence  and  vigour  of  his  administration,  England  en- 
joyed a  longer  term  of  interior  peace  and  tranquillity  than 
it  had  been  blest  with  in  any  former  period,  or  than  it  ex- 
perienced for  many  ages  after.  He  gained  the  affections 
of  the  great,  yet  curbed  their  licentiousness.  His  affa- 
ble and  obliging  behaviour,  his  munificence  and  generosi- 
ty, made  them  submit  Avith  pleasure  to  his  dominion  :  his 
valour  and  conduct  made  them  successful  in  most  mili- 
tary enterprizes;  and  their  unquiet  spirits,  directed 
against  a  public  enemy,  had  no  leisure  to  breed  those 
private  feuds  to  which  they  were  naturally  so  much  dis- 
posed. This  internal  tranquillity  was  the  chief  benefit 
that  England  derived  from  Edward's  continental  expe- 
ditions :  and  the  miseries  of  hissuccessor  made  the  nation 
fully  sensible  of  the  value  of  the  blessing. 

But  before  I  speak  of  the  administration  of  Richard 
11,  the  unhappy  son  of  the  Black  Prince,  I  must  carry 
forward  the  affairs  of  the  German  empire.  At  present, 
however,  it  will  be  proper  to  observe,  that  the  French 
monarch,  Charles  V.  whose  prudent  conduct  had  acqui- 
red him  the  surname  oiWise^  died  soon  after  Edward  III. 
while  he  was  attempting  to  expel  the  English  from  the 
few  places  which  they  still  retained  in  France,  and  left 
his  kingdom  to  a  minor  son  of  the  same  name,  Charles 
VI.  so  that  England  and  France  were  now  both  under  the 
government  of  minors.  And  both  experienced  the  mis- 
fortunes of  a  turbulent  and  divided  regency. 

LETTER 


THE  HISTORY  OF  [part,  i. 


LETTER  XLI. 

THE  GKRMAN  EMPIRE  AND  ITS  nEPENDENCIES,  ROJIE  AND 
THE  ITALIAN  STATES,  FROM  THE  ELECTION  OE  LEWIS  OF 
BAVARIA  TO  THE   DEATH   OF  CHARLES  IV. 

W  E  now,  my  dear  Philip,  approach  to  that  sfcra 

in  the  history  of  the  German  empire,  when  the  famous 

constitution,   called  the   Golden  Bull,  was   established  j 

tirhich,  among  other  things,  settled  the  number  and  the 

rights  of  the  electors,  as  yet  uncertain,  and  productive 

of  many  disorders. 

Henry  VII.  as  you  have  already  seen,  struggled  hard 

to  recover  the  sovereignty  of  Italy  j  but  he  died  before 

he  was  able  to  accomplish  his  purpose.      His  death  was 

followed  by  an  interregnum  of  fourteen  months,  which 

were   employed  in  the  intrigues  of  Lewis  of  Bavaria, 

^„^^    and   of  Frederic  the  Handsome,   duke  of 
A.    D.   1315.    A         •         T        .  1,11 

Austria.     Lewis  was  elected  by  the  greater 

number  of  the  princes;  but  Frederic  being  chosen  and 
supported  by  a  faction,  disputed  the  empire  with  him.  A 
furious  civil  war,  which  long  desolated  both  Italy  and 
Germany,  was  the  consequence  of  this  op- 
*  position.  At  last  the  two  competitors  met 
near  Muldorf,  and  agreed  to  decide  their  important  dis- 
pute by  thirty  champions,  fifteen  against  fifteen.  The 
champions  accordingly  engaged  in  presence  of  both  ar- 
mies, and  fought  with  such  fury,  that  in  a  short  time  not 
one  of  them  was  left  alive.  A  general  action  followed, 
in  which  the  Austrians  were  worsted.  But  this  victory 
was  not  decisive.      Frederic  soon  repaired  his  loss,  and 

^    ^      even  ravaged  Bavaria.     The  Bavarian  assem- 
A. D. 1 322 

*  bled  a  powerful  army,  in  order  to  oppose  his 

rival;  and  the  battle  of  Vechivis,  in  which  the  duke  of 

Austria  was  taken  prisoner,  fixed  the  imperial  crown  on 

the  head  of  Lewis  V. 

1.  Avent.  Annal.  Bo'ur.  lib.  rii. 

During, 


VET.  xLi]  MODERN   EUROPE.  nm 

During  the  course  of  these  struggles  was  fought,  be- 
tween the  Swiss  and  Austrians,  the  memorable  battle  of 
Morgart;  which  established  the  liberty  of  Swisserland,  as 
the  victory  of  Marathon  had  formerly  done  that  of  Greece : 
and  Attic  eloquence  only  was  wanting  to  render  it  equally 
famous.  Sixteen  hundred  Swiss,  from  the  cantons  of  Uri, 
Schwitz,  and  Underwald,  defeated  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  Austrians,  in  passing  the  mountains  near 
INiorgart,  in  1315,  and  drove  them  out  of  the  country  with 
terrible  slaughter.  The  alliance  which  these  three  cantons 
had  entered  into  for  the  term  of  ten  years,  was  now  con- 
verted into  a  perpetual  league ;  and  the  other  cantons  occa- 
sionally joined  it^ 

Lewis  V.  had  no  sooner  humbled  the  duke  of  Austria 
than  a  new  antagonist  started  up: — he  had  the  pope  to 
encounter.  The  reigning  pontiff  at  that  time  was  John 
XXII.  wbo  had  been  elected  at  Lyons  in  1315,  by  the 
influence  of  Philip  the  Long,  king  of  France.  John  was 
the  son  of  a  cobler,  and  one  of  those  men  who,  raised  to 
power  by  chance  or  merit,  are  haughty  in  proportion  to 
the  meanness  of  their  hirth.  He  had  not  hitherto,  how- 
ever, interfered  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire;  but  now,  all 
at  once,  he  set  himself  up  as  its  judge  and  master.  He 
declared  the  election  of  Lewis  void:  he  main- 
tained,  that  it  was  the  right  of  the  sovereign 
pontiff  to  examine  and  confirm  the  election  of  emperors; 
that  the  government,  dtiring  a  vacancy,  belonged  to  him: 
and  he  commanded  the  emperor,  by  virtue  of  his  apostolic 
power,  to  lay  aside  the  imperial  ensigns,  until  he  should 
receive  permission  from  the  holy  see  to  reassume  them^. 

Several  attempts  were  made  by  Lewis  towards  a  re- 
conciliation with  his  holiness,  but  in  vain:  the  proud 
pontiff  was  inflexible,  and  would  listen  to  no  reasonable 
conditions.  The  emperor,  therefore,  jealous  of  the  in- 
dependency of  his  crown,  endeavoured  to  strengthen  his 

2.  Simler,  fife  Fepulf.  Hehetic. 

3.  Steph.  Baluzii.  Vit.  Pontiff.  Avenion.  vol.  i. 

interest 


488  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

interest  both  in  Italy  and  Germanv.  He  continued  the 
government  of  INIilan  in  the  familv  of  the  Visconti,  who 
were  rather  masters  than  magistrates  of  that  city;  and 
he  conferred  the  government  of  Lucca  on  Castruccio 
Castruccani,  a  celebrated  captain,  whose  life  is  pompous- 
ly written  by  INIachiavel.  The  German  princes  were 
mostly  in  his  interest,  and  no  less  jealous  than  he  of  the 
dignity  of  the  empire. 

Enraged  at  such  firmness,  pope  John  excommunicated 
,^^_  and  deposed  the  emperOr  Lewis,  and  en- 
'  deavoured  to  get  Charles  the  Fair,  king  of 
France,  elected  in  his  room.  But  this  attempt  miscarried. 
None  of  the  German  princes,  except  Leopold  of  Austria, 
came  to  the  place  appointed  for  an  interview  with  the 
French  monarch;  and  the  imprudent  and  ambitious 
Charles  returned  chagrined  and  disappointed  into  his 
ow^n  dominions'. 

Thus    freed   from  a  dangerous   rival,  the   emperor 
„  marched  into  Italy,  in  order  to  establish  his 

A.  D.  i32r.  .     .  ' 

*  authority  in  that  country.  He  was  crowned 
at  INIilan,  and  afterwards  at  Rome;  where  he  ordered 
the  following  proclamation  to  be  made  three  times  by  an 
Augustan  friar:  "  Is  there  any  one  who  will  defend 
*'  the  cause  of  the  priest  of  Cahors,  who  calls  himself 
*'  pope  John  r" — And  no  person  appearing,  sentence  was 

immediately  pronounced  against  his  holiness. 

*  Lewis  declared  him  convicted  of  heresy, 
deprived  him  of  all  his  dignities  and  benefices,  and  de- 
livered him  over  to  the  secular  power,  in  order  to  suifer 
the  punishment  of  fire;  and  Peter  Rainaucci,  a  Neapoli- 
tan cordelier,  was  created  pope  under  the  name  of 
Nicholas  V^. 

But  Lewis,  notwithstanding  this  mighty  parade, 
■was  soon  obliged,  like  his  predecessors,  to  quit  Italy, 
in  order  to   quell  the  troubles  of  Germany  and  pope 

4.  Villani,  lib.  Ki.  5.  Balluzii,  ubi  sup. 

John, 


i.ET.  xLi.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  489 

John,  though  a  refugee  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  re- 
covered his  authority  in  Rome.  The  Impe-  i  «  ,r» 
rialists  were  expelled  the  city,  and  Nicholas 
V.  the  emperor's  pope,  was  carried  to  Avignon,  where, 
with  a  rope  about  his  neck,  he  publicly  implored  forgive- 
ness of  his  rival,  and  ended  his  days  in  a  prison''. 

The  emperor,  in  the  mean  time,  remained  in  peace 
at  Munich,  having  settled  the  affairs  of  Germany.  But 
he  still  lay  under  the  censures  of  the  church,  and  the  pope 
continued  to  solicit  the  princes  of  the  empire  to  revolt 
against  him.  Lew  is  was  preparing  to  assemble  a  general 
council  in  order  to  depose  his  holiness  a  second 
time,  when  the  death  of  John  made  such  a  mea- 
sure unnecessary,  and  relieved  the  emperor  from  all  dread 
of  the  spiritual  thunder.  This  turbulent  pope,  who  first 
invented  the  taxes  for  dispensations  and  mortal  sins,  died 
immensely  rich.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  papacy  by 
James  Fournier,  surnamed  the  White  Cardinal,  who  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Benedict  XII". 

The  new  pope,  who  seemed  desirous  to  tread  in  the 
steps  of  his  predecessor,  confirmed  all  the  bulls  which  had 
been  issued  by  John  against  the  emperor.  But  Lewis 
had  now  affairs  of  more  importance  to  engage  his  atten- 
tion than  those  important  fulminations.  John  of  Luxem- 
burg, second  son  of  the  king  of  Bohemia,  had  married 
Margaret,  surnamed  Great  Mouth,  heiress  of  Carinthia; 
and  that  princess  accusing  her  husband  of  impotency,  a 
bishop  of  Frisingen  dissolved  the  marriage,  and  she 
espoused  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg,  son  of  the  em- 
peror Lewis,  who  readily  consented  to  a  match  that 
added  Tyrol  and  Carinthia  to  the  possessions  of  his  fa- 
mily. This  marriage  produced  a  war  between  the  houses 
of  Bavaria  and  Bohemia,  which  lasted  only  one  year,  but 

occasioned  abundance  of  bloodshed;   and  the  .^,^ 

,  ,     A.  D.  1336. 

parties  came  to  a  very  smgular  accommoda- 
tion.     John  of  Luxemburg  confessed  that  his  wife  had 

6.  lb; J.  7.  Baluz.  Vit.  Pontif.  Avenion. 

▼  OL.  I,  8  X  reason 


490  TilE   HISTORY  OF  .  [parti. 

reason  to  forsake  him,  renounced  all  claim  to  her,  and  ra- 
tified her  marriage  with  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg*^. 
This  affair  being  settled,  Lewis  exerted  all  his  en- 
deavours to  appease  the  domestic  troubles  of  the  empire, 
which  were  still  kept  alive  by  the  intrigues  of  the  pope; 
and  notwithstanding  all  the  injuries  and  insults  he  had 
sustained,  he  made  several  attempts  towards  an  accom.- 
modation  with  the  holy  see.  But  these  negociations 
being  rendered  ineffectual  by  the  influence  of  France,  the 
princes  of  the  empire,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  secular, 

^„„    assembled  at  FranTcfort,   and  established  that 
A.  D.  1338. f  .      .         ,         ,  .  ,    . 

lamous  constitution,  by  which  it  was  irrevoc- 

tihly  fixed,     "  That  the  plurality  of  the  suffrages  of  the 

"  electoral  college  confers  the  empire,  without  the  con- 

"  sent  of  the  holy  see;  that  the  pope  has  no  superiority 

"  over   the    emperor  of  Germany,    nor  any  right  to  ap- 

"  prove  or  reject  his  election;   and  that  to  maintain  the 

"  contrary  is  high-treason."  They  also  refuted  the  absurd 

claim  of  the  popes  to  the    government  of  the    empire 

during  a  vacancy;  and  declared,  that  this  right  appertains, 

by  ancient  custom,   to  the  count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine'. 

Germany  now  enjoyed  for  some  years  what  it  had 
seldom  known,  the  blessings  of  peace;  which  was  again 
interrupted  by  the  court  of  Avignon.  Benedict  XII.  was 
succeeded  in  the  papacy  by  Clement  VI.  a  native  of 
France,  and  so  haughty  and  enterprising  as  to  affirm  that 
his  "  predecessors  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  be  popes." 
He  began  his  pontificate  with  renewing  all  the  bulls  issued 
against  Lewis;  with  naming  a  vicar-general  of  the  empire 
in  Lombardv,  and  endeavouring  to  make  all  Italy  shake 
off  the  emperor's  authority. 

Lewis,  still  desirous  of  an  accommodation  with  the 
holy  see,  amidst  all  these  acts  of  enmity,  sent  ambassadors 
to  the  court  of  Avignon.  But  the  conditions  prescribed  by 
his  holiness  were  so  unreasonable,  that  they  were  reject- 

8.   Hist,  a'e  Luxemburg.  9-.  Heiss,  llv.  ii.  chap.  26. 

ed 


LET.  xLi.J  BiODERN  EUROPE.  49t 

ed  with  disdain  b)-  a  diet  of  the  empire,  as  an  insult  upon 
the  imperial  dignity.  Clement,  more  incensed  than  ever 
at  this  instance  of  disregard,  fulminated  new  excommuni- 
cations against  the  emper^jr.  "  May  the  wrath  ^ 
"  of  God,"  says  the  enraged  pontiff  in  one  of  '  *  ^ 
his  bulls,  "  and  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  crush  him  in 
"  this  world,  and  that  which  is  to  cornel  May  the  earth 
"  open  and  swallow  him  alive;  may  his  memory  perish, 
"  and  all  the  elements  be  his  enemies;  and  may  his 
*'  children  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  adversaries,  even  in 
"  the  sight  of  their  father'"." 

Clement  issued  another  bull  for  the  election  of  a  new 
emperor;  and  Charles  of  Luxemburg,  margrave  of  Mo- 
ravia, afterwards  known  b}-  the  name  of  Charles  IV. 
son  and  heir  of  John,  king  of  Bohemia,  having  made  the 
necessary   concessions  to  his  holiness,    was  elected  king 

of  the  Romans  by  a  faction.     Levvis,  however,  ^    ^_ 

11-  u     •        Ml  I-      .1        1  •  1  -'^'  ^-  1347. 

mamtamed  his  authority  till  his  death,  which 

happened  soon  after  the  election  of  his  rival ;  when 
Charles,  rather  by  his  money  than  his  valour,  got  pos- 
session of  the  imperial  throne. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Germany,  a 
singular  scene  was  exhibited  in  Italy.  Nicholas  Rienzi, 
a  private  citizen  of  Rome,  but  an  eloquent,  bold,  enter- 
prising man,  and  a  patriot,  seeing  that  city  abandoned  by 
the  emperors  and  the  popes,  set  himself  up  as  the  rec 
storer  of  the  Roman  liberty  and  the  Roman  power.  Pro- 
claimed tribune  by  the  people,  and  put  in  possession  of 
the  Capitol,  he  declared  all  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  free, 
and  denizens  -of  Rome.  But  these  convulsive  struggles 
of  long-expiring  freedom,  like  many  others,  proved  in- 
■effectual.  Rienzi,  who  styled  himself  "  the  severe  though 
"  merciful  deliverer  of  Rome,  the  zealous  assertor  of  the 
""  Jiberties  of  Italy,  and  the  lover  of  all  mankind,"  as  he 

JO    Annal.  de  l' Emt).  torn.  ii. 

attempted 


492  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

attempted  to  imitate   the  Gracchi,   met  the  same  fate, 
being  murdered  by  the  patrician  faction". 

A  scene  no  less  extraordinary  was  about  this  time 
exhibited  at  Naples.  The  kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily 
still  continued  to  be  ruled  by  foreigners.  Naples  was 
governed  by  the  house  of  France,  and  Sicily  by  that  of 
Arragon.  Robert  of  Anjou,  son  of  Charles  the  Lame, 
though  he  had  failed  in  his  attempt  to  recover  possession 
of  Sicily,  had  made  Naples  a  flourishing  kingdom.  He 
died  in  1343,  and  left  his  crown  to  Joan,  his  grand- 
daughter, who  had  married  her  relation  Andrew,  brother 
to  Lewis  of  Anjou,  elected  king  of  Hungary;  a  match 
which  seemed  to  cement  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  that  house,  but  proved  the  source  of  all  its  mis- 
fortunes. Andrew  pretended  to  reign  in  his  own  right ; 
and  Joan,  though  but  eighteen  years  of  age,  insisted  that 
lie  should  only  be  considered  as  the  queen's  husband.  A 
Franciscan  friar,  called  Brother  Robert,  by  whose  advice 
Andrew  was  wholly  governed,  lighted  up  the  flames  of 
hatred  and  discord  between  the  royal  pair ;  and  the 
Hungarians,  of  whom  Andrew's  court  was  chiefly  com- 
posed, excited  the  jealousy  of  the  Neapolitans,  who  con- 
sidered them  as  barbarians.  It  was  therefore  resolved, 
in  a  council  of  the  queen's  favourites,  to  put  Andrew  to 
death.  He  was  accordingly  strangled  in  his  wife's  anti- 
chamber:  and  Joan  married  the  prince  of  Tarentum,  who 
had  been  publicly  accused  of  the  murder  of  her  husband, 
and  was  well  known  to  have  been  concerned  in  that 
bloody  deed.  How  strong  a  presumption  of  her  own  guilt ! 
In  the  niean  time  Lewis  king  of  Hungary,  brother  to 
the  murdered  Andrew,  wrote  to  Joan,  that  he  would  re- 
venge the  death  of  that  unfortunate  prince  on  her  and  her 
accomplices.  He  accordingly  set  out  for 
Naples  by  the  way  of  Venice  and  Rome.  At 
Rome  he  publicly  accused  Joan,  before  the  tribune  Rienzi; 

11.  Id.  ibid. 

who 


i.ET.  xLi.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  493 

who,  during  the  existence  of  his  transitory  power,  be- 
held several  kings  appealing  to  his  tribunal,  as  was 
customary  in  the  limes  of  the  ancient  republic.  Kien- 
zi,  however,  declined  giving  his  decision;  a  modera- 
tion by  which  he  at  least  gave  one  example  of  his  pru- 
dence: and  Lewis  advanced  towards  Naples,  carrying 
along  with  him  a  black  standard,  on  which  were  painted 
the  most  striking  circumstances  of  Andrew's  murder. 
He  ordered  a  prince  of  the  blood,  and  one  of  the  ac- 
complices in  the  regicide,  to  be  beheaded.  Joan  and 
her  husband  fled  into  Provence;  where,  finding  herself 
utterly  abandoned  by  her  subjects,  she  waited  on  pope 
Clement  VI.  at  Avignon,  a  city  of  which  she  was  so- 
vereign, as  countess  of  Provence,  and  which  she  sold 
to  that  pontiff,  together  with  its  territories,  for  eighty 
thousand  florins  in  gold,  which  a  celebrated  historian 
tells  us  were  never  paid.  Here  she  pleaded  her  cause 
in  person  before  the  pope,  and  was  acquitted.  But  per- 
haps the  desire  of  possessing  Avignon  had  some  influ- 
ence upon  the  judgment  of  his  holiness. 

Clement's  kindness  did  not  stop  here.  In  order  to 
engage  the  king  of  Hungary  to  quit  Naples,  he  pro- 
posed that  Joan  should  pay  liim  a  sum  of  money;  but 
as  ambition  or  avarice  had  no  share  in  I^ewis's  enter- 
prize,  he  generously  replied,  "  I  am  not  come  hither 

*'  to  sell  my  brother's  blood,  but  to  revenp-e 

.  A.  D.  1352 

it!"    and   as  he  had  partly  effected  his  pur- 
pose, he  went  away  satisfied,  though  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  was  in  his  power  ".     Joan  recovered  her  domi- 
nions, but  only  to  become  more  wretched.     Of  her  ii;;:- 
happy  fate  I  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  speak. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  affairs  of  the  emperor 
Charles  IV.   This  prince,  wlio  was  equally  distingLiisli- 
ed  by  his   weakness  and  pride,  had  no  sooner  settled 
the    affairs    of    Germany,    than    he    went 
to    receive   the   imperial   crown  at   Rome, 
where    he  behaved   in   a  manner   more   pusillanimous 

12.  Villani,   lib.  xii. 

than 


494  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

than  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  coronation  cere- 
mony was  no  sooner  performed  than  he  retired  without 
the  walls,  in  consequence  of  an  agreement  which  he 
had  made  with  the  pope;  though  the  Romans  came 
to  offer  him  the  government  of  their  city,  as  his  here- 
ditary right,  and  entreated  him  to  re-establish  their 
ancient  liberty.  Kc  told  the  deputies  he  would  delibe- 
rate on  the  proposal.  But  being  apprehensive  of  some 
treachery,  he  sneaked  off  in  the  evening,  under  pre- 
tence of  going  to  take  the  diversion  of  hunting.  And 
he  afterwards  ratified  and  confirmed  many  promises 
extorted  from  him  by  Clement  VI.  very  much  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  empire  in  Italy''. 

The  poet  Petrarch,   so  highly   celebrated  for  his 

<„^^    love-verses,    wrote    a    letter    to    Charles 

A.    D.    1356.  ,  .      '  .  .  ,  .   ,  r        J 

upon  this   occasion,  in   which   are  tound 

these  spirited  v/orcls:  "  You  have  then  promised  upon 
*'  oath,  never  to  return  to  Rome! — What  shameful 
"  conduct  in  an  emperor  to  be  compelled  by  a  priest 
"  to  content  himself  with  the  bare  title  of  Csesar,  and 
"  to  exile  himself  forever  from  the  habitation  of  the 
''  CsesarsI  to  be  crowned  emperor,  and  then  prohibited 
•■'  reigning,  or  acting  as  head  of  the  empire! — What 
"•  an  insult  upon  him  who  ought  to  command  the  uni- 
"•  verse,  to  be  no  longer  master  of  himself,  but  reduced 
"  to  obey  his  own  vassal  ^ 

This  emperor  seenied  to  have  renounced  entirely 
the  politics  of  his  predecessors;  for  he  not  only  discou- 
raged and  rejected  the  proffers  of  the  Ghibelincs,  but 
affected  to  treat  them  as  enemies  to  religion,  and  actu- 
ally supported  the  Gueiphs.  By  these  means  he  pro- 
cured the  favour  of  the  pope  and  his  dependents,  who 
flattered  him  with* the  most  fulsome  adulation;  but  the 
Italians,  in  general,  viev/ed  him  with  contempt,  and 
the  greatest  part  of  the  towns  attached  to  the  empire, 
shut  their  gates  against  him.  At  Cremona  he  was 
obliged  to  wait  two  hours  without  the  walls,  before  he 

13.  Fleury,  tom.  xx.  iiv.  96.  14.  Be  Vit.  Solit.  lib.  ii. 

received 


iET.  XLi,]  MODERN  EUROPE.  495 

received  the  answer  of  the  magistrates  ;  who,  at 
last,  only  permitted  him  to  enter  as  a  simple  stranger, 
without  arms  or  retinue' 5. 

Charles  IV.  made  a  more  respectable  figure  after  his 
return  to  Germany.  The  number  of  electorates  had 
been  fixed  since  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  more  by  custom 
than  by  laws,  but  not  the  number  of  electors.  The  duke  of 
Bavaria  presumed  he  had  a  right  to  elect  as  well  as  the 
coimt  Palatine,  the  elder  branch  of  their  family;  and  the 
younger  brothers  of  the  house  of  Saxony  believed  them- 
selves entitled  to  vote  as  well  as  the  elder.  The  emperor, 
therefore,  resolved  to  settle  these  points,  that  due 
subordination  might  take  place,  and  future  elections 
be  conducted  without  confusion  or  disorder.  For  this 
purpose  he  ordered  a  diet  to  be  held  at  Nuremburg, 
where  the  famous  constitution,  called  the  Golden  Bull^ 
was  established,  in  the  presence,  and  with  the  consent 
of  all  the  princes,  bishops,  abbots,  and  the  deputies  of  the 
imperial  cities. 

The  style  of  that  celebrated  charter  partakes. strongly 
of  the  spirit  of  the  times.  It  begins  with  an  apostrophe  to 
Satan,  anger,  pride,  luxury;  and  it  says  that  it  is  necessary 
the  number  of  electors  should  be  seven,  in  order  to 
oppose  the  seven  mortal  sins.  It  speaks  or  the  fall  of  all 
the  angels,  of  a  heavenly  paradise,  of  Fompey,  and  of 
Csesar;  and  it  asserts  that  the  government  of  Germany 
is  founded  on  the  three  theological  virtues,  as  on  the 
Trinity.  The  seven  electors  were,  as  formerly  premised, 
the  archbishops  of  Mentz,  Cologne,  and  Triers,  the  king 
of  Boiiemia,  the  count  Palatine,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  and 
the  margrave  of  Brandenburg. 

The  imperial  dignity,  which  of  itself  then  conferred 
little  real  power,  never  shewed  more  of  that  lustre  which 
dazzles  the  eyes  of  the  people,  than^n  the  publication 
of  this  famous  edict.  The  three  ecciesiaslicr.!  electors, 
all  three   arch-chancellors,    appeared  in   the   procession 

15,  Barre,  torn.  ii.     SponJ.  dentin      Baron,  torn.  i. 

witli 


496       ^  THE  HISTORY,  &c.  [part  i. 

with  the  seals  of  the  empire  ;  the  archbishop  of  Mentz 
carried  that  of  Germany,  the  archbishi^p  o'  Cologne  that 
of  Italy,  and  the  archbishop  of  Triers,  that  of  Gaul  j 
though  the  empire  now  possessed  nothing  in  Gaul,  except 
a  claim  to  empty  homage  for  the  remains  of  the  kingdoms 
of  Aries,  Provence,  and  Dauphin^-  How  little  power 
Charles  had  in  Italy,  we  have  already  seen.  Besides 
granting  to  the  pope  all  the  lands  claimed  by  the  holy  see, 
he  left  the  family  of  Visconti  in  the  quiet  possession  of 
Milan  and  Lombardy,  which  they  had  usurped  froaPL 
him,  and  the  Venetians  in  that  of  Padua,  Vicenza,  and 
Verona  ^.      I  must  now  return  to  the  ceremonial. 

The  duke  cjf  Luxemburg  and  Brabant,  who  represent- 
ed the  king  of  Bohemia,  as  great  cup-bearer,  presented 
the  emperor  with  his  drink,  poured  from  a  golden  flaggon 
into  a  cup  of  the  same  metal;  the  duke  of  Saxony,  as 
grand  marshal,  appeared  with  a  silver  measure  filled 
with  oats;  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  presented  the 
emperor  and  empress  with  water  to  wash  in  a  golden 
ewer,  placed  in  a  golden  bason;  and  the  count  Palatine 
served  up  the  victuals  in  golden  dishes,  in  presence  of 
all  the  great  officers  of  the  empire '^ 

The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  IV.  was 
distinguished  by  no  remarkable  transaction  except  the 
sale  of  the  imperial  jurisdictions  in  Italy  ;    which  were 

airain  resumed  and  acain  sold.  Charles  who 
A.  D.  1378.     ^  ,  1       •  u   *  1 

v.as  reputed  a  good  prmce,  but  a  weak  em- 
peror, was  succeded  in  all  his  possessions  and  dignities 
by  his  son  Winceslaus,  whom  I  shall  afterward  have 
occasion  to  mention.  V/e  must  now  return  to  the  affairs 
of  England  ;  remarking  by  the  way,  that  Charles  IV. 
was  an  encouragtr  of  letters,  and  founded  the  university 
of  Prague. 

16.  Id.  ibid.  17.  Heiss,  liv.  ii.  chap.  27. 


END   OF   THE  VIRST   VOLUME.. 


940 

R91 
1 


Mar 


